Haaland becomes a mate convert, thanks Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Rulli

A photo, a mate gourd and three Argentine names. That is how Erling Haaland summed up his weekend on social media, and what started as a soccer celebration ended up turning into a small feel-good moment between Manchester and the Rio de la Plata.

It all began on Saturday, when the Norwegian once again showed why he is City's go-to man up front: he scored a brace in the win over Ipswich Town, his seventh goal in as many Premier League appearances this season. With that performance, Haaland reached 12 goals in 9 games combining the Premier League and the Champions League, numbers that keep him as the driving force behind a team still cruising through the English league.

But the interesting part came later. Hours after the final whistle, once the result had been celebrated, the forward posted a second update on his Instagram account, this time with no ball in sight: a photo of himself drinking mate. And he did not stop there, tagging and thanking three Argentine teammates he knows well from the sky blue locker room.

"Thanks Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Geronimo Rulli for introducing me to this lovely drink," wrote the 26-year-old Haaland in a post that quickly went viral well beyond England.

The replies came fast. Alvarez, now at Atletico Madrid, answered with a simple but enthusiastic "Erlingoooo," while Enzo Fernandez added some humor with a "Protocolooooo" that kept the post buzzing on social media.

Thanks Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Geronimo Rulli for introducing me to this lovely drinkErling Haaland

A connection that goes back

The gesture has history behind it. Enzo Fernandez and Geronimo Rulli joined Manchester City at the start of the post-Pep Guardiola era, arriving to find Haaland already established as the squad's biggest star. Julian Alvarez, on the other hand, had signed in the same transfer window as the Norwegian himself, back in 2022.

It was with Alvarez that Haaland shared a locker room during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, a stretch in which the pair combined for 63 appearances and 3,364 minutes on the field together, setting up eight goals for each other. During that run, "La Arana" and "El Androide," as they are nicknamed, won the UEFA Champions League, the Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, two Premier League titles and the FA Cup together.

Now, with Alvarez in Spain and Enzo and Rulli part of City's new era, mate served as the perfect excuse to revisit bonds that soccer, every so often, leaves untouched even when paths go their separate ways.