Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland has revealed why he shouted in Bono's face after scoring a penalty that left a number of Sevilla players enraged.
Haaland scored both of Dortmund's goals in a 2-2 draw with Sevilla on Tuesday night, taking his overall tally in the Champions League to 20 in 14 games.
However, there was more than a touch of controversy over his second goal, which came via a penalty retake, as the Norwegian celebrated by taunting opposition goalkeeper Bono.
What's been said?
“He was too far [off his line],” the Dortmund star told reporters. “If he stood on his line, I would have scored that one - and that’s what happened on the second one.
“I missed and then he cheated. Then I took it again and scored when he didn’t cheat.
“When he was screaming in my face after the first one, I was thinking 'it will be even better to score another goal’ - and that’s what happened, so it was nice.”
Pressed on exactly what he said to Bono, Haaland responded: “I don’t want to say. I don’t know what it means but I said what he said after I missed the first one.
"Maybe it’s karma in this world.”
The penalty incident & Dortmund's progression to CL quarter-finals
Haaland put Dortmund 1-0 up the second leg of their last-16 tie against Sevilla with a simple tap-in on the half-hour mark, and thought he had doubled their lead when he found the net again from a tight angle early in the second half.
However, the referee brought play back and awarded a penalty to BVB for a foul on Haaland in the build-up to the goal, with the 20-year-old subsequently stepping up from 12 yards.
Haaland fired his penalty towards the bottom right of the net only to see Bono palm the ball out, but the Moroccan was adjudged to have jumped off his line early after a VAR review.
A retake was then ordered which allowed Haaland a second bite of the cherry, and this time his effort found its way past Bono into the same corner he had previously been aiming for.
Sevilla fought their way back into the game thanks to a Youssef En-Nesyri brace, but Dortmund held on to qualify for the last eight of the competition 5-4 on aggregate.
Haaland's overall record for Dortmund this season
Haaland's latest double saw him increase his haul in the Champions League to 10 goals in six games - four ahead of his nearest challengers in the race to be the competition's leading scorer.
The Norway international has also scored 21 goals in 23 domestic matches in 2020-21, including 19 in the Bundesliga, while setting up another eight for his team-mates.
Further reading
- Terzic: UCL hero Haaland is just outstanding
- UCL top scorers 2020-21: Haaland leads the way
- Flick: Haaland to Bayern very much possible