 "Erling Haaland and Trent Alexander-Arnold's verbal battle has spiced up things ahead of Liverpool's match vs Man City. Reuters")
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold are currently involved in a verbal argument regarding the value of the trophies won by their respective clubs. First Alexander-Arnold taunted City that winning trophies means more for Liverpool than reigning Premier League champions. And now Haaland has hit back by saying that the Liverpool defender “doesn’t know” what it feels to win the Treble.
Interestingly the verbal battle has come ahead of the Liverpool vs Man City top-of-the-table Premier League clash which will take place on Sunday. Liverpool currently lead the Premier League table with 63 points from 27 matches, while City are second with 62 points from same number of matches. Naturally the tempers are flaring as City are aiming to become the first side in history to win four consecutive English top-flight titles, while Liverpool are hoping to send outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp off in style.
Klopp and City boss Pep Guardiola have consistently battled it out for major honours over the past decade.
Here’s the full timeline of Alexander-Arnold-Haaland verbal battle:
Defender Alexander-Arnold said in an interview this week that Liverpool’s trophies had meant more due to the enormous financial resources available to Abu Dhabi-backed City.
“It’s tough. We’re up against a machine that’s built to win – that’s the simplest way to describe City and their organisation,” Alexander-Arnold told FourFourTwo magazine. “Looking back on this era, although they’ve won more titles than us and have probably been more successful, our trophies will mean more to us and our fanbase because of the situations at both clubs, financially.
“How both clubs have built their teams and the manner in which we’ve done it, probably means more to our fans.”
Haaland’s 52 goals last season helped City win the Champions League for the first time and they also collected the Premier League and FA Cup to become only the second English side to do the treble, after Manchester United in 1998/99.
Haaland hits back
“I’ve been here one year and won the treble and it was quite a nice feeling,” Haaland told Sky Sports when asked about Alexander-Arnold’s comments. “I don’t think he knows this feeling, so that’s what I felt last season and it was quite nice.”
Despite his goalscoring heroics, Haaland was unable to end City’s miserable record at Anfield last season, when Klopp’s men won 1-0 during a poor campaign for Liverpool.
The Reds have bounced back this season and go into the weekend one point ahead of City and two clear of Arsenal.
“It’s going to be a great game,” said Haaland. “Liverpool are top of the league, they have been better than us this season so we have to go there and be at our best.
“It’s going to be a special game and a really important game.”
Alexander-Arnold is one of a number of senior players set to miss out for Liverpool due to injury.
Ruben Dias wades into the battle
Haaland is not the only one. Even Man City vice-captain Ruben Dias has waded into the verbal battle by biting back at Alexander-Arnold, saying that his team is not affected by what others think about them and they don’t win trophies for “anyone else”.
“We’ve won a lot in this club, especially last year with the Treble. I think it’s pretty certain between us, between our fans, how much it meant to all of us,” he said on BBC Radio Manchester. “At the end of the day you can only have certain emotions if you actually win stuff. A Treble is a feeling you can only know how it feels when you actually do it.
“I think in a club like Man City and my previous club (Benfica) our greatness will be shown in a way that these comments don’t affect us. We know what we’ve done, we know what we’ve conquered, we know what we’re going for in what’s to come. We don’t do it for anyone else, we do it for ourselves.
“Other people’s success is deserved for their own achievements. What we focus on is ourselves and that’s the way to move forward and that’s the way to be big, a big club. Not trying to comment on other people’s success and trying to make it bigger or smaller depending on how convenient it is for you.”