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Manchester City fans have berated Erling Haaland for his display in the 1-0 FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday, May 17. As the key figure in attack, the Norwegian had a quiet attacking outing and failed to score.
Eberechi Eze gave Palace the lead in the 16th minute of the final at Wembley. The English sensation received a low cross from Daniel Munoz and released his strike, which went into the net.
After Palace took the early lead, City were handed an opportunity to equalize as Tyrick Mitchell brought down Bernardo Silva in the penalty area. However, Omar Marmoush's penalty was firmly stopped by Dean Henderson to keep Palace's lead intact. Interestingly, Haaland didn't take the penalty.
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Jeremy Doku (43’) skipped past several Palace defenders and released a brilliant strike, which was heading for the net. However, Henderson was yet again equal to the task and made an astonishing save to deny the Manchester City winger. Munoz’s 58th-minute goal was also disallowed for offside by the video assistant referee (VAR). City registered 15 goal attempts in the second half, but they failed to equalize and lost the final.
Meanwhile, Haaland maintained 45% passing accuracy during the final against Palace. He registered just one shot on target, failed to win any ground duel (0/2), and gave the ball away eight times (via Sofascore).
After the final whistle, fans via X chastised Haaland for his poor display in an important game, with one tweeting:
"Is there a worse big game player than “Haaland”?.”
"Erling Haaland in finals with Man City: 0 goals 0 assists 7 games He's not a robot, he's an agent.," another added.
"Haaland... It's not the match of a top player.," a fan opined.
"Man haaland ghosted in every single final he pkayed for city, happy Messi won that ballon dor," another suggested.
"I don't want to hear any nonsense about selection. The line up was good enough. People on the pitch were fvcking around. I am genuinely ashamed of Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne today," a disappointed fan vented.
"Somebody should walk up to Haaland and say "Stay humble eh"," a rival fan poked fun.
"Haaland very humble game 😂😂," another said.
"Haaland already on summer break? They should have played him in this final man.," wrote another.
How did Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku perform against Crystal Palace?
While most City players had a shambolic outing, Jeremy Doku was arguably Pep Guardiola's brightest player on the pitch. He was also the City player who offered the most attacking threat to Palace's goal.
Doku maintained 97% (34/35) passing precision in the final against Palace. The Belgian winger also provided three key passes, registered three shots, and won seven out of 11 ground duels contested (via Sofascore).
Meanwhile, Manchester City have now lost back-to-back FA Cup finals and will end the campaign without a significant trophy. They lost against Manchester United in the FA Cup final last season.
