Man City's 'lucky' bonsai: Erling Haaland taking 'responsibility' for tending to Japanese tree that makes John Stones 'angry' as new Netflix documentary reveals bizarre dressing room ritual

Pep Guardiola's troops created history in the 2022-23 campaign after becoming only the second English team to win a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble, with the Norwegian striker scoring 52 times in 53 appearances, including a record-breaking 36 goals in the league. And now, in a Netflix documentary titled Together: Treble Winners, one of the secrets to their success has been revealed.

In the physio room of City's training ground, amidst the fervour of a successful season, a peculiar sight caught the attention of players and staff alike: a bonsai tree - which was carefully tended to by none other than Haaland. The Japanese tree stood as a symbol of unity and shared purpose within the City dressing room during their triumphant campaign and it became a shared responsibility for the players to water the plant.

Describing the origins of this unique ritual, defender John Stones remarked: "Erling's idea. Everyone bought into it, everyone took care of it. It became a thing that if you’d come in and not watered it, you’d be a bit angry with yourself."

Haaland added: "I’ve kind of got responsibility for it. Give it what it needs, feed it. It needs the right light. We get the energy from the bonsai tree. We drag the energy out and it breathes into the body. It brings us good luck."

Haaland now needs that bonsai luck more than ever! Despite maintaining his position as the league's top scorer, Haaland has struggled to replicate the same level of performance as last season, with only four goals in his last 11 appearances, including a blank in his last match against title contenders Arsenal. He will hope to get back his scoring boots and help City return to winning ways when they host Aston Villa on Wednesday evening in the Premier League.