Erling Haaland labelled 's*** Rickie Lambert' and the striker's response is brilliant

The 22-year-old was thrown on as a second half substitute, but failed to make a difference as the Saints ran out 2-0 winners on the south coast.

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Haaland - and City - failed to register a single shot on target for the first time since losing 3-0 to Liverpool in the Champions League in April 2018.

It was just the seventh game this season that the Premier League's top scorer has failed to get on the score sheet.

And Saints supporters were quick to let Haaland know what they thought of him.

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Rubbing salt in the wounds of the ex-Borussia Dortmund marksman, they chanted: "You're just a s*** Rickie Lambert."

And Lambert, who scored 117 goals in 235 games for Southampton during his five-year spell between 2009-2014, was quick to join in the banter.

Taking to his Instagram, the 40-year-old shared a snap of bookmakers' Paddy Power posting about Haaland being trolled.

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Captioning the image, he brilliantly quipped: "He's still got time to improve!"

His ex-Southampton teammate Jason Puncheon was left in stitches over his comment, as he messaged two laughing face emojis.

And Saints fans were also loving his friendly jibe, as one user said: "Can he do it in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final at Wembley? Doubt it."

Another remarked: "Lambo you are better than Haaland any day of the week mate."

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A third added: "Love that from you Rickie."

Speaking after the match, Pep Guardiola insisted that Southampton were deserving winners.

He said: "The better team won. We didn't play good, we didn't play well in the beginning.

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"There are many games you can start not good and overcome and we didn't do it.

"When you are not prepared to play this game you arrive one inch late and don't score a goal. When you are prepared you score the goal.

"Today was a bad night, the opponent was better so we have to congratulate them.

"To win games you have to deserve it and tonight we didn't deserve it."

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