Shortly after number 49 of his 52-goal season, which capped a pivotal 4-1 win for Manchester City over Premier League title rivals Arsenal, Erling Haaland was singing in celebration.
But the giant Norwegian was not lauding his own exploits. A television camera caught him gleefully joining in with the Manchester City fans inside the Etihad Stadium's raucous stands.
"Johnny, Johnny Stoooones, Johnny, Johnny Stoooones," Haaland wailed in what looked like a fairly manic yodel.
There was another viral moment featuring Stones and Haaland, where the striker pulled off an uncanny impression of the Barnsley-born defender, displaying his own Yorkshire roots from when dad Alf-Inge Haaland played at Leeds United before his own spell at City.
Haaland's impression of John Stones 🤣 pic.twitter.com/9879IDZSkG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 17, 2023
A firm off-field alliance between Haaland, Stones and the rest of Pep Guardiola's England contingent is abundantly clear within a tight-knit squad that clearly enjoys one another's company heading into Saturday's date with destiny against Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
But Haaland also has footballing reasons to cherish Stones' comradeship. More than any other player at City, the 29-year-old centre-back/midfielder/whatever you call him nowadays has solved the puzzle that Haaland's arrival posed for Guardiola.
City's dominance of English football, which now extends to five Premier League titles in the past six seasons and 11 major honours out of the 18 on offer during that period, was based upon total control and dominance of central areas. This reached its zenith over the past two years, when Guardiola seldom went into big games with a conventional centre-forward, preferring a false nine to dip into midfield and pass the opposition to distraction.
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While there's very little about Haaland's gargantuan presence that screams "conventional" he is very much a striker who thrives within the final third and feels wasted elsewhere. And so, Guardiola set about working out how to maintain the control he had hard-wired into his team without the central attacker contributing too much in that regard.
After the World Cup, he hit upon a system where a defender would tuck into midfield but play a full part in City's attacking game, as opposed to just supplying an option for an extra pass or carrying out a screening role.
Prodigious youngster Rico Lewis showed the plan could work but City truly took off on their run towards the treble when Stones took up the brief. The career defender has dominated midfield arguments against the likes of Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Quite simply, he's been a revelation.
"I think I did and still do love playing as a centre-half," Stones said, as you'd expect from a man who firmly headed his own crossbar when successfully trying to avert a Manchester United equaliser in last weekend's FA Cup final.
John Stones.
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) June 5, 2023
Midfield maestro. 🌟#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/gcmDnhqJ3E
"I've absolutely loved this role as well. To be fair, from a young age, people have always said that they can see me playing in there.
"I think I have showed myself that I'm able to do it, maybe showing some attributes that I didn't know that I had, but the manager has seen in me."
Guardiola's faith in Stones' uncommon ability on the ball for an English centre-half has been tested over the course of their seven years together.
In 2016, which other Premier League centre-back aside from the Cruyff-turning Evertonian did anyone expect Guardiola to bring in as his first major defensive signing? Stones contributed handily to City's 2017/18 and 2018/19 title wins, never more so than when he made an incredible goal-line clearance in a win over rivals Liverpool in the latter campaign.
But he lost his starting place during both run-ins and was at a low ebb towards the end of the COVID-interrupted 2019/20 season. Guardiola spoke openly about how he could offer Stones no guarantees over his future. When City shambled to a 3-1 Champions League quarterfinal defeat against an unfancied Lyon side, Eric Garcia and Fernandinho were selected ahead of him in central defence. Stones looked on as an unused substitute as the roof caved in on City's season in Lisbon.
"It was probably one of the hardest times in my career," he said of a period where he also found himself in the midst of a 16-month exile from Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
"I literally went back to firstly looking at myself, being super critical of myself and what I could do better on the football pitch, and then looking into every fine detail, down to food, what food, training, what training, what extras.
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"That's come down to doing stuff here [at the training ground] and then going home and doing work, even late at night, or straight after the training and all these kinds of specific things, finding these small margins. It was a big learning curve for me and made me who I am today.
"I never thought about [leaving City]. As soon as you accept that or have that mindset then you have killed yourself. I always wanted to stay, I have stayed and I absolutely love it."
From being a step or two away from the exit door, Stones heads to Istanbul as a bone fide fan favourite, featuring in all the on-trend terrace songs of a season City fans will never forget.
Should Guardiola's team get the job done this weekend, he will hear them chanting his name loud and proud — providing Haaland isn't barking it in his ear even louder in a cod-Yorkshire accent.
Premier League 2023/24 TV channels, live streams
MORE: Watch every Premier League match in Canada on Fubo
| Region | TV | Streaming |
| Australia | — | Optus Sport |
| Canada | — | |
| Hong Kong | — | Now TV |
| India | Star Sports | Disney+, Hotstar, JioTV |
| Malaysia | Astro SuperSport | Astro Go |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport | Sky Sport Now, Sky Go |
| Singapore | StarHub | StarHub TV+ |
| UK | Sky Sports, BT Sport | NOW TV, Sky Go, Amazon Prime |
| USA | USA Network, Telemundo, Universo | Fubo, Peacock |
UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and BT Sport streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.
USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on Fubo. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.
Canada: Every Premier League game this season is live streaming exclusively via Fubo in Canada.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream every match live and on demand on Optus Sport.
India: Star Sports network has the rights to show Premier League matches in India. As well as an English broadcast on Star Sports Select, select matches will be available via regional feeds on Star Sports 3 (in Bengali, English, Kannada, Malayalam), Star Sports 1 (Bangla) and Star Sports 1 (Tamil).
