With a 1-1 draw, it’s fair to say Nottingham Forest got a good result against Manchester City at the weekend.
A big factor to avoid a loss against Pep Guardiola’s side was how they stopped their attack, and that has everything to do with the strategy to give Erling Haaland no chances to score.
One of the men who had that mission was Nottingham Forest centre-back Felipe, and when given a chance of a conversation with ESPN Brasil about the game, he could detail his duty on Saturday’s game.
The defender admitted that he knew how hard that challenge would be, and couldn’t even help a teammate just so he could be focused on his job.
“Everyone knows and already knows very well how Haaland plays, his style of play. He’s a physically very strong guy, and he has the intelligence to seek out those spaces,” Felipe told ESPN Brasil.
“I even talked to Renan Lodi that I wasn’t able to cover him much because of that, because I’d rather be touching him, so I can take away his speed.”
According to Felipe, the secret to stop Manchester City’s Haaland was to keep in contact to him the whole game.
“So, that’s what I did the whole game: I managed to stay close to him. That’s why, when he tried to move forward, I was touching him and bothered him a lot. It was a good duel.”
Since joining Nottingham Forest in January, Felipe first stayed on the bench in a match against Leeds, and then became a starter for the team, having played against Fulham and Manchester City.
That means he’s still looking for a win with the Reds, although that personal battle with Haaland was certainly personally satisfying for him.
