Owen Hargreaves was walking Premier League Productions viewers through Manchester City’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford when the picture behind him caught up with the interview. Erling Haaland, phone in hand, was in the background of the shot, lining up a selfie in front of the emptying stands.
The photo went straight to Haaland’s Instagram and X on Sunday night. Caption: “Nice.”
Within a day the picture had been liked more than 2.8 million times on Instagram, according to Brit Brief. The Premier League’s own social account leaned into it, posting the clip of Haaland gatecrashing the broadcast. Haaland replied under the post.
“Sorry,” he wrote, followed by a laughing emoji.
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His comment drew more than 54,000 likes of its own.
A goal that never should have stood
Referee Michael Oliver had flagged Haaland offside on the field before VAR sent it back onside off the nearest United defender; Haaland then finished a Josko Gvardiol cross on the hour, his ninth league goal in Manchester derbies.
Professional Game Referees, the Premier League’s officiating body, admitted the following day that the goal should have been ruled out. City’s Enzo Fernández had been in an offside position and, though he never touched the ball, had pulled Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez towards him as it travelled past. The VAR “did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review”, Pro Ref said.
City had played more than an hour with ten men after Phil Foden’s first-half red card for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.
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“I took it a bit personally”
Haaland’s version of the offside was that Michael Oliver had misjudged him.
“I think there was a flick; I thought someone had flicked it. Normally I don’t go offside,” he told reporters after the match.
He said he had raised it with the referee on the pitch.
“I said to Michael Oliver that I took it a bit personally that he thought I was offside, but I looked over to Enzo and the gaffer, and they gave me a thumbs-up.”
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Lisandro Martínez was less amused by the officiating.
“Five or six people [officials] doing this kind of mistake in the Premier League is unacceptable,” Martínez said.
The tunnel photo went bigger still
The selfie was not the only shot doing numbers on Haaland’s feeds. He also shared a post-match photo with Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson in the Old Trafford tunnel, a picture that drew more than 3.7 million views and over 110,000 likes on X.
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