A surprising response from Manchester City's new star to Haaland's mockery

The Norwegian described him as a diver

Elliot Anderson has fired back at Manchester City team-mate Erling Haaland after the Norwegian mocked him on Instagram.

Haaland, it seems, has not forgotten what happened to him at the recent World Cup, staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Norway crashed out at the quarter-final stage, beaten 2-1 by England.

According to The Sun, Haaland took aim at his new City team-mate with a cutting reply to a fan on Instagram.

The striker posted a picture with the caption: "Back to sunny Manchester!" One fan replied: "Say hi to Anderson for me". The Norwegian didn't hesitate: "The diver?"

Yet there was no lasting bad blood, according to The Sun. Both players turned up for pre-season training yesterday.

Asked whether he'd seen the post, Anderson, 23, said: "Yeah, it got round pretty widely. He was calling me a diver".

He continued: "It was funny. He was really good today and helped me settle in, he was completely honest with me, he's a really good guy".

City splashed out £116 million to bring the England international to the Etihad Stadium, hoping to reclaim the Premier League title.

Anderson had apparently enraged the entire Norwegian public during a tense incident at the summer's World Cup.

With the quarter-final level at 1-1, Torbjørn Heggem pounced on a rebound from a corner to put Norway ahead.

VAR wiped the goal off. The officials spotted Haaland shoving Anderson to the ground.

Plenty of fans reckoned Anderson went down softly. Others thought the midfielder had put his hands on Haaland first, and Haaland himself branded the decision "poor".