By LUKE POWER, SPORTS REPORTER
Published: 05:38 EST, 17 November 2025 | Updated: 05:38 EST, 17 November 2025
Erling Haaland says his furious spat with Gianluca Mancini blew up after the Italy defender started 'touching his a**'.
The Norway striker got stuck into a row with Mancini just before half-time on Sunday and had to be held back by Manchester City team-mate Gianluigi Donnnarumma.
Norway went on to win 4-1 to claim an automatic World Cup spot at Italy's expense and painted Milan red with their celebrations in the aftermath.
But now he says the animosity only intensified in the second half as Mancini allegedly started touching his rump. Haaland went on to score twice in vengeance.
'At 1-1 he started to touch my a**, and then I thought: "What are you doing?"' Haaland told Norwegian outlet TV 2.
'I started to get a little fired up and said: "Thank you very much for the motivation. Let's f****** have it."
Erling Haaland says Italy defender Gianluca Mancini 'touched my a***' during Norway's win
The duo had clashed shortly before half-time, and then Haaland went on to score two after the alleged touching
'Then I scored two goals and we won 4-1, so that's nice. Many thanks to him.'
Norway have qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 and done so with a flawless record, winning all eight of their qualifiers with 37 goals and five conceded.
Haaland is now on a whopping 31 goals for club and country this season and he will follow in his father's Alf Inge's footsteps of leading Norway out at a World Cup.
And he celebrated hard with his team-mates in the early hours of Monday morning.
First, they enjoyed raucous meal at the team hotel before the team bus took them into Milan's city centre at 2am, according to Norwegian outlet VG.
Norway's stars were led into a nightclub via a backdoor, perhaps in a bid to keep them away from any riled Azzurri supporters.
Haaland and his team-mates had booked their ticket to North America in stylish fashion after going a goal down, with strikes from the Man City man, Antonio Nusa and Jorgen Strand Larsen putting Italy to the sword.
His first was an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net after latching onto an Oscar Bobb pass. His second, less than a minute later, was a close range finish that silenced the San Siro and left Donnarumma stunned as the big striker wheeled away with glee.
While Italy knew they would never put nine required past Norway, the nature of their second half capitulation left their fans enraged - only worsened by Wolves man Strand Larsen's 93rd-minute sickener.