Erling Haaland has hit back at Trent Alexander-Arnold’s taunt that winning trophies means more to Liverpool than to Manchester City, boasting that last season’s treble triumph felt “quite nice”.
Liverpool and City face off in a top-of-the-table Premier League clash on Sunday, with third-placed Arsenal also in the mix.
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.
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.”
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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.
“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.”
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Alexander-Arnold is one of a number of senior players set to miss out for Liverpool due to injury, with Ibrahima Konate potentially joining the list of absentees after limping off in the Reds’ 5-1 win over Sparta Prague today.
City, by contrast, have nearly a clean bill of health and were able to rest most of their star names in a 3-1 win over FC Copenhagen on Wednesday to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Haaland started in midweek and scored to take his tally for the season to 29, despite missing two months of the campaign due to injury.
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