Erling Haaland gesture after Plymouth win speaks volumes for Man City star

Erling Haaland gesture after Plymouth win speaks volumes for Man City star

Manchester City came out 3-1 winners against Plymouth in the FA Cup but the Championship side did not leave empty-handed.

City beat Plymouth on Saturday

It was only a few months ago that Maksym Talovierov was playing football at the Etihad Stadium. That, though, was on a game with the prospect of an actual appearance only a dream. Fast-forward to the January transfer window and a few giant-killings later and the defender's move to Plymouth meant he would get the chance to go there in real life.

As if that wasn't enough, Talovierov scored the opening goal of the game in front of 7,500 jubilant Argyle fans and picked up the shirt of the best striker in the game.

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"I have it right now, [Erling] Haaland’s shirt," he said as he spoke to reporters after the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup. "In my football career, I haven’t swapped a lot of jerseys, I just have a collection of my close friends', so it was only the second time I’ve asked to swap shirts.

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“The first time was Virgil [van Dijk] when we played Liverpool in 2023 [playing for LASK Linz in the Europa League] and today was very good.”

Haaland started on the bench for the fifth round tie at the Etihad but replaced James McAtee in the second half with the game level after Nico O'Reilly had cancelled out Talovierov's effort. The Norwegian's presence gave Plymouth's defence something else to think about and he also picked up an assist for Kevin De Bruyne for the third goal after his initial effort was saved.

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Pep Guardiola and his side march on into the quarter-finals in their only chance of silverware before the Club World Cup, but Plymouth left the Etihad with the respect of the Blues and everyone else watching after a gutsy performance that made life difficult for the Premier League champions.

As they make the long trip back home and return to the reality of trying to escape from the Championship relegation zone, the team can take heart from a terrific cup run that also saw them claim the scalps of Brentford and Liverpool before giving City a scare.

"It was fantastic because to score at the Etihad, it’s a dream," said Talovierov. "A few months ago, I played here in FIFA, the Etihad Stadium, and today I had the chance to play here for real. So yeah, it’s really great.

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"It’s not the result we wanted, but yeah, we tried to do our best. We really appreciated our fans who came. They were great and we heard them all game. I really believe they’re proud of us because we tried our best.”

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