What did he mean, Haaland was replaced by Guardiola and had a strange reaction

Manchester City did not have a start to the season up to expectations. After winning the treble, that is, the three most important titles of the year (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League), they had the goal of winning the Community Shield, a tournament they could not win in 2021 and 2022.

They had started winning with Cole Palmer's goal, but near the end Leandro Trossard scored the equaliser with a shot that deflected off Manuel Akanji. Then in the penalty shootout, the Gunners had more precision and tranquility and ended up winning the title and leaving the Citizens with a lot of anger.

But there was a situation during the match that caught the attention of all the spectators. 18 minutes into the second half Pep Guardiola decided to take off Erling Haaland, the team's main star. This was unexpected, as the coach preferred to leave on Julian Alvarez and not the Norwegian forward, the team's top scorer last season.

As he walked off the pitch towards the bench, Haaland was caught on camera making a strange gesture: he held up three fingers on his right hand. Some interpreted this as a message to Guardiola, showing his anger at being replaced in the middle of such an important match. However, the explanation seems to be much simpler: the gesture was directed at Arsenal fans and referred to the three titles won by Manchester City last season.

The striker's problem

Erling Haaland had an excellent 2022/23 season, in which he scored 52 goals in 53 games and was a key player for the team. But some believe he has yet to live up to expectations in the biggest games. Since he arrived at Manchester City, they have played 4 finals (2 Community Shield, one FA Cup and one Champions League) and the Norwegian player did not score goals in any of them.