Jan Paul van Hecke gives his side of the story after Pep Guardiola confrontation as Brighton defender reveals how Netherlands team-mates mocked Man City’s Erling Haaland

Guardiola was asked about the exchange, and explained that he praised the Netherlands international’s strength against star striker Erling Haaland and gave him some advice. A week later, Van Hecke has given his recollection of the encounter.

“After the game, City manager Pep Guardiola came to me. It was a nice conversation: he congratulated me on the win and said we had played well,” he told Algemeen Dagblad. “Then he talked about my last duel with Haaland, where he thought I should have stayed on my feet. I replied that I went down but I got up again straight away – and that was it. We continued talking quietly in the players’ tunnel.

“Because the conversation on the pitch was in full view, everyone asked about it. Fellow players made jokes about it, everyone wanted to know what exactly had been said. But Guardiola was also very complimentary, he said I was a good player. So I thought it was fine.”

While Haaland scored the opening goal, he was unable to provide a result for his side as Brighton fought back to steal the three points, and Van Hecke’s Netherlands team-mates were looking for the Norwegian forward in his pockets days later.

“A few guys at Oranje looked in my pocket on Monday night as a joke, to see if Erling Haaland was supposedly still in it,” he added. “But I have to be critical. We won against City, but Haaland did score, so he wasn’t completely in my pocket. It went really well on Saturday. I played well, and when you win 2-1 against Manchester City, you automatically get a lot of compliments.”

Van Hecke joined Brighton in 2020 and is in his second season as a regular starter for the club. He earned his first Netherlands cap against Germany in September and will hope to be called on to start when they come up against Hungary on Saturday.