Erling Haaland hits back at Roy Keane: ‘I don’t really care about that man’

Former Manchester Untied midfielder Keane likened the prolific City striker to a “League Two player” when referring to his overall play last month.

Haaland put those comments aside with a devastating return to top form as City crushed Wolves 5-1 to retain control of the Premier League title race.

“I don’t really care about that guy that much, so it doesn’t matter,” Haaland said in an interview with a broadcaster from his native Norway.

Any bitterness is likely rooted in Keane’s long-standing feud with Haaland’s father Alf-Inge. Keane became infamous for a horrific tackle on Haaland senior in 2001.

Haaland stunned Wolves with a first-half hat-trick, two of which were penalties, and took his tally for the campaign to 36 in all competitions with a brilliant fourth.

Substitute Julian Alvarez rounded off the scoring as City moved back to within a point of leaders Arsenal at the top of the table with a game in hand.

“We just have to win our games now, relax tonight and focus on Fulham,” Haaland added.

Haaland scored 52 goals in his brilliant first season at City and manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that any drop in form this season has been largely down to his injury problems.

Guardiola said: “He was injured. He needs time to return to his best form. He’s so tall. He’s not like Jeremy (Doku) or Phil (Foden).

“I am happy with his performance and his exceptional goals, and also with the penalties, because we know that sometimes they are not easy.

“But the second and fourth were incredible. I am very happy for him.”

City have three games left, compared to Arsenal’s two.

Guardiola said: “It was a better result than performance. People see 5-1, but I don’t feel like that was really good.

“But we are happy with the result. Now we have to get nine points or Arsenal will win the title.”

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil felt City’s first penalty, awarded after a collision between Josko Gvardiol and Rayan Ait-Nouri, was questionable but admitted City deserved their win.

O’Neil, whose side received a consolation through Hwang Hee-chan, said: “The first penalty, I thought, was a very bad decision. It was a strange one.

“But we have to take responsibility for the way the match unfolded. I think we made a lot of mistakes, including unforced ones, which gave Manchester City some really good chances.

“Against other teams you can get away with a few mistakes, but we knew we had to try to get as close to perfection as possible here, and we fell short repeatedly.

“That meant it was a fairly comfortable afternoon for Manchester City.”