“I don’t know what he wants,” says Erling Haaland, a hitman for Man City, after a fight with a Chelsea player. “Enzo Fernandez stomped” on him.

Erling Haaland says that Enzo Fernandez, a player for Chelsea, stomped on him while Manchester City won at Stamford Bridge.

Defending winners off to a good start
The Norwegian striker who scored at Stamford Bridge is used to getting roughed up.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The defending Premier League champions got off to the best possible start by beating Everton 2-0 in west London. Two-time Golden Boot winner Haaland scored in that game, giving him a perfect start to the 2024–25 season.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Since joining City 100 games ago, the Norwegian striker has scored 91 goals in all categories. His amazing hit rate makes him an easy target for opponents who want to use rough play to try to knock him out of his stride.

HOW HAALAND SAID IT

Haaland is used to that, and he told BBC Sport about his running fight with Fernandez, a World Cup winner, in a game that saw City take the first step towards a record-setting fifth straight Premier League title: “He stamps on me all the time and pushes me and everything else as well.” I have no idea what he wants, but I guess that’s what they do.

“Let’s take it one game at a time since we just won the Premier League.” There are still 37 games to play. Remember that we won the Premier League and our first game of this season. It’s great to see everyone again. After that, we’ll go. It’s crazy how fast time goes by; this is my third season already. I’m glad I won because it makes me happy. For our first game back, we weren’t at our best, but we still played really well. Really cool to see how we just kept calm and played.

WHAT’S NEXT?

City won at Stamford Bridge thanks to a goal from Mateo Kovacic, who used to play for Chelsea. This season, Pep Guardiola’s team has already won the Community Shield, and they plan to fight for every trophy possible in what could be his last season as manager, since his contract is up in the summer.