Erling Haaland has been accused of infringing an odd Enzo Maresca rule during Manchester City’s 4-2 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Haaland and his City teammates had a dreadful first half against the defending European champions, with Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele, and Vitinha scoring for Luis Enrique’s powerful club.

Maresca made three changes at halftime, replacing Jeremy Doku, Rayan Cherki, and captain Ruben Dias with Iliman Ndiaye, Ayyoub Bouaddi, and Matheus Nunes, respectively.

The city subsequently improved. Haaland responded with two goals, but it was insufficient to avoid loss in front of former manager Pep Guardiola, who watched from the Etihad Stadium stands.

PSG added another goal through Maghnes Akliouche and might have made it 5-2 before halftime if Ferran Torres had converted a late penalty against Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Haaland ‘broke’  Maresca rule

Haaland’s brace, however, restored some pride to the Premier League leaders.

But The Mirror explains how Haaland violated a long-standing Maresca rule in the process.

The world-class striker was unexpectedly given the captain’s armband after Dias was replaced at halftime.

Maresca explained to reporters in August, shortly after joining Manchester City, why the Norwegian could not be his captain.

He said at the time: “At Leicester and Chelsea, I had a rule that when we scored, the captain had to come to the bench, not to celebrate, but to get instructions. But if he scores, he can rejoice.

“If you saw the game [against K-League XI], when we scored the first goal, Ruben [Dias] came over to the bench.”I believe there is always something to adjust, even if it is only for two or three minutes.

Rather of rushing to the bench to discuss tactical changes, Haaland celebrated his first goal before speaking briefly with Josko Gvardiol on his way back to his own half.

After scoring his second goal, which made the score 4-2, he simply ran back to the halfway line.

However, given that City was trailing at the moment and in desperate need of extra goals, Haaland may have been spared from Maresca’s unusual rule.