“I would be fuming” – Man City’s Erling Haaland makes honest admission over Nathan Ake goal vs Fulham

Manchester City cruised to victory at the Etihad but could count themselves fortunate to have been two goals up by half time.

Erling Haaland admits he would ‘go crazy’; Did Manchester City abuse Nathan Ake’s controversial goal against Fulham on Saturday?

City continue their strong start to the Premier League season, beating Marco Silva’s side 5-1 at home. Haaland scored his first hat-trick of the season with goals from Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake in the first half.

However, Fulham were left frustrated by the latter effort in which Ake headed in a corner during added-time. The Cottagers’ defence had pushed up, leaving Manuel Akanji offside, and the City defender jumped over the ball before it rippled the net.

The majority of those inside the Etihad expected the goal to be chalked off, but a lengthy VAR review adjudged it to have been fair and Michael Oliver gave the goal. Fulham boss Silva was fuming with the decision and Haaland had sympathy for his opponents.

“It was the perfect end of the week,” Haaland admitted after the match. “It’s good to be back. In the end we win 5-1 and it’s well deserved.

“I think it was offside as well, I feel bad for them, I would be fuming after this as well. It must be a horrible feeling for them.

“Last year was also difficult to start but we’ve been taking more points now. In the end, it’s been a perfect start because we’ve won four games, but we have a much higher level and it’s about working towards that.”

Former referee Mike Dean was equally sure about the mistake, telling Soccer Saturday it was ‘1,000 per cent’ offside.

“The goalkeeper can’t go straight away because he has to wait and when he does move, it’s too late,” he said. “The player has to be interfering.

“It’s 1,000 per cent offside. It’s just offside. I just don’t understand why it wasn’t given. It’s offside in any game of football.”

Haaland took the sting away from the VAR mistake with a quickfire hat-trick after the break, netting his third and final effort in added-time. It was the Norwegian’s fifth treble since he arrived at the Etihad last summer, and he is now the fastest to reach that milestone in Premier League history.