Alf Inge Haaland, father of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, was removed from his seat by security guards during 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Real Madrid,
A video posted on social media showed Alf, 50, waving to Real fans and putting a hand to their ear after scoring Kevin De Bruyne's equaliser. There were allegations that food had been thrown from the hospitality box Alf was sitting in, although there was no evidence to suggest this.
Alf was then escorted out of the hospitality area by security guards who are everywhere at the Bernabeu on a match night.
Alf said the decision to move him and his friends was made after celebrating a second-half equalizer scored by Kevin De Bruyne.
Alf, his 22-year-old son's agent, was massively courted by Real officials last year and as a start he tried to persuade Erling to sign for the Spanish club. For at least 18 months he and France forward Kylian Mbappe were heavily implicated in the Spanish media as the two primary targets to join Real last summer. In the event Erling went to City and Mbappe signed a new one-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain.
There is still hope that Erling will play some of his career at Real should he continue his remarkable goalscoring form. He struggled to make an impact at the Bernabeu, however, with only 21 touches the whole game – the fewest of the 22 players to start the match.
Pep Guardiola hinted he may make some adjustments to include more of his top scorer next time around. “Finding spaces for Erling is not easy,” he said. “Maybe we try to make some adjustments in the second leg to be a little more fluid and find more rhythm because we play at home and at home we feel more comfortable with our guys.”
Meanwhile, a furious Carlo Ancelotti claims City's equalizer should have been disallowed as the ball went out of play in the build-up to the goal.
The Real coach said, “The ball was out of play.” “I don't understand why they didn't use blows [to check it], We could have easily won. We controlled the game well and after scoring we played well.
Footage from Ben sports showed that the ball had gone out of play, although the accuracy of this footage has not been verified.
“Ben showed that the ball was out of bounds,” said Ancelotti. “The technology said it and I don't understand why VAR didn't check it. Referee [Artur Dias] Missed a lot of things tonight.”
‘Rüdiger eats Holland': how the Spanish press reacted
by Jack de Menezes
Manchester City's thrilling 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg drew mixed reactions from the Spanish press, with Carlo Ancelotti praised for outmaneuvering Pep Guardiola and the two goalscorers for their stellar efforts. celebrated for
Vinicius Júnior and Kevin De Bruyne scored either side of half-time and set up the tie to go back to the Etihad Stadium next week, giving City a slight advantage as they would have a partisan home support behind them in the second leg, Even though distant targets are no longer noticed.
Madrid-based Marca suggested that Madrid were unlucky not to have won with Ancelotti's supposedly superior tactics.
“The Italian's plan is more effective than Guardiola's”, claimed the Madrid daily, which has lost no love for Guardiola as both player and manager at Barcelona.
The quip came under the heading “A final at the Etihad”, acknowledging that whoever emerges victorious in the second leg will be heavy favorites to go all the way, despite the presence of AC Milan and Inter Milan on the other side of the semi-finals. ,
The newspaper also took a dig at Erling Haaland for her anonymous performance, claiming “[Antonio] Rüdiger Haaland eats”.
On AS, the front page headline is: “See you in Manchester”.
AS also noted how ineffective Haaland was on Tuesday night and praised Rudiger's influence in “canceling out” the Norwegian goalkeeper's threat.
While it may be tough for Barcelona fans to see their arch-rivals in the last four of the Champions League once again, two of their newspapers gave the match the credit it deserved.
Barcelona-based Sport ran the headline “Empet a golazos”, which translated as “stunning goals tie”, while Mundo Deportivo teased a “Manchester decider” and “stopping almost everything” to keep the tie. Praised Madrid goalkeeper Courtois for. The standoff is moving into the second phase.