Erling Haaland was short and sweet with his answer when asked if he regrets throwing a ball at Arsenal defender Gabriel’s head.
The Manchester City striker went back and forth with the Brazilian during his side’s 2-2 draw with the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium last month.
It was Gabriel who pulled Mikel Arteta’s side into the lead, after Haaland had opened the scoring early in the ninth minute and Arsenal’s new summer signing Riccardo Calafiori equalised.
John Stones would rescue City in the eighth minute of additional time, prompting the Norway striker to bounce the ball off Gabriel’s head in a game that witnessed multiple heated exchanges.
Even Man City manager Pep Guardiola exchanged words with his former prodigy Arteta, after the latter claimed he had ‘all the information’ on City, who used to employ the Spaniard.
With Martin Odegaard missing through injury, 24-year-old Haaland steps up to captain Norway against Slovenia and Austria this week.
Haaland was asked if he regrets his behaviour against Arsenal, now that he is set to captain his country.
“I don’t regret much in life,” he said.
“It was in the heat of the moment and a lot of stuff happened in that game,” Haaland added, referring to the incident with Gabriel.
“Things that happen on the football pitch stay there and that’s how it is.”
Arsenal’s trip to Manchester was action-packed from start to finish.
Guardiola’s midfield maestro Rodri was forced to come off early due to an ACL injury, which has ruled him out for the rest of the season, and Belgium forward Leandro Trossard picked up two yellow cards just before half time.
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The result left both sides neck and neck in the race for the Premier League title on 17 points.
Both sides have won five of their opening seven Premier League games, drawing the other two.
Man City also dropped points on their visit to Newcastle the week after, while Arsenal had already failed to win their home game against Brighton in August, a match which saw Declan Rice get sent off.
Liverpool are perched top of the Premier League table having won six of their opening seven games.
New boss Arne Slot has made the best start out of any manager in the club’s history, winning all of his competitive games, aside from the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest last month.
Man City travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in their first game after the international break, while Arsenal go to Bournemouth and Liverpool host Chelsea.
