Erling Haaland sends message to Gabriel Magalhaes before World Cup clash

Erling Haaland played down his beef with Gabriel Magalhaes ahead of the pair clashing at the World Cup when Norway take on Brazil on Sunday.

The Manchester City striker and Arsenal defender have developed a great rivalry in the Premier League, with their physical battles fascinating to watch.

It has seemingly become personal between the two stars, ever since Haaland celebrated a late Manchester City equaliser against Arsenal in September 2024 by throwing the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head.

Since then the rivalry has been simmering and occasionally boiled over, with Gabriel screaming in Haaland’s face to celebrate an Arsenal goal in February 2025.

In April this year City beat Arsenal 2-1 and Gabriel was very lucky not to be shown a red card after aiming a headbutt at the Norwegian.

Now the two giants meet in the last 16 of the World Cup in New Jersey but Haaland has nothing but praise for the centre-back.

In fact, he has been very complimentary about the Brazil team as a whole going into the match.

‘Yeah, he’s an amazing player, he just won the Premier League so all respect to him,’ Haaland told Caze TV.

‘But don’t forget Marquinhos won the Champions League two in a row, don’t forget Alisson has won every single trophy, so it’s not just him. The whole team is really good and the defence is really good.

‘If you are Brazil, and you have 200 million people to choose from – not exactly that – but if you have a lot of people to choose from you should have Champions League winners, you should have Premier League winners, and you should have the best players in the world, because it’s Brazil.’

Carlo Ancelotti sounds typically relaxed about dealing with the threat of Haaland, who has five goals in Norway’s four games so far.

‘I don’t have to explain to my defenders how Haaland plays. They know him better than I do because they have played against him many times,’ said the Brazil boss.

Midfielder Bruno Guimaraes says there is a plan to deal with the prolific striker, saying: ‘We have to try to prevent the ball from reaching him.

‘We will be attacking, but there always has to be someone glued to him so we don’t give him space, because we know that with just one ball he can decide a match.’

Gabriel’s father said of his son’s battles with Haaland on ESPN’s Equipe F: ‘He’s used to playing against Haaland. The two of them clash and I keep saying “Good heavens!”

‘He’s used to playing against Haaland, against several other Premier League strikers, where there are many strikers of Haaland’s calibre.

‘Wow, the two of them go at it, I watch and think “Goodness gracious, thank goodness Gabriel is strong”. Because Haaland is very strong and to mark him you have to be a strong guy like Gabriel.’

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