When Erling Haaland wrapped his arms around Marc Guehi at Anfield in February, insisting camera crews “film this geezer” after a booing from the home crowd, it was then a throwaway moment between two teammates enjoying a big win.
Five months on, it looks different. And sets the scene nicely for Saturday.
Haaland and Guehi will, of course, find themselves on opposite sides when Norway meet England in Miami in the World Cup quarter-final, the pair’s first competitive meeting since City’s title push in February.
Guehi has already made clear there is no discomfort in the prospect. “It’s going to be fun,” he said this week, ahead of the reunion with his Etihad team-mate, adding that he expects Haaland “will be up for it” too.
That ease between the two says something about the dressing room City’s players now carry into international duty. Guehi has faced Haaland four times at club level and come out on the wrong side more often than not — conceding seven goals in those meetings — but the closeness built since his January move from Crystal Palace appears to have softened any edge.
Team-mate Nico O’Reilly, also in England’s squad, described the pair’s bond in similar terms this week, both looking forward to facing a player they usually watch score at close range in training.
For City supporters, the subplot carries its own significance. Haaland arrives in Miami level with Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot race, on seven goals in four games, while Guehi and O’Reilly represent two of the club’s most reliable performers from an England side yet to concede consecutive games.
Whatever happens on Saturday, City’s interests are represented at both ends of the pitch — a reminder of just how central the club’s players have become to this tournament’s story.
