RAPID Erling Haaland turned on the afterburners to be a makeshift centre-back – but could not prevent Ivan Toney’s winner.
The Manchester City striker is used to banging in the goals at the Etihad since his summer arrival.
But after drawing a blank for 98 minutes against Brentford on Saturday, he did his best to hold on to a point.
The Bees broke quickly from a City corner with Yoane Wissa and Josh Dasilva leading the charge.
Haaland, 22, recognised the danger on the counter and made a staggering lung-busting sprint the entire length of the field to try and help his defenders out.
But as he got into position between team-mates eight yards out, Dasilva threaded a perfect low ball across for Toney to tap in for his dramatic winner.
Haaland was visibly frustrated as City dropped a crucial three points in the title race and he was overshadowed by his opposite number in red and white.
But fans on Twitter were in awe of his incredible hard work and desire to defend for the team.
One said: “What a recovery run from Haaland – the amount of ground he covered was seriously impressive.”;
Another wrote: “I can’t help watch Haaland sprint back to cover at CB while the rest jog back! Eight seconds from one box to the other...”;
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And ex-Chelsea striker Demba Ba added: “Haaland’s mentality on Brentford’s second goal is just unmatched...
“The way he ran back and positioned himself as a center defender – I LOVE IT.”;
Haaland now has five weeks to recover from that major energy-sapping effort with the Premier League on pause for the World Cup.
His Norway side failed to qualify meaning his next match is likely to be the Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool in the week between the final in Doha on December 18 and the Prem return on Boxing Day.
