Erling Haaland and his dad buy £7.5m houses in Abu Dhabi, the homeland of Man City's owners, under the shadow of guilty verdict on their rule-breaking investments

Erling Haaland has snapped up a luxury property in Abu Dhabi after publicly backing Manchester City and their United Arab Emirates owners in the wake of the club's seismic guilty verdict.

Haaland, 26, scored as Manchester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, in their first match since an independent commission found the club guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. 

Ahead of the high-stakes clash, Haaland publicly threw his support behind the club, urging fans to 'enjoy the ride' in a show of defiance that echoed the stance of City's Abu Dhabi owners, who are fiercely appealing the verdict. 

In what could be seen as another show of loyalty to Manchester City and the Abu Dhabi United Group, the Norwegian striker has bought a luxury property in the newly-built Ohana Development on Yas Island in UAE's capital. 

His 53-year-old father, Alf-Inge Haaland, has also purchased a residence at the same complex, with property prices reportedly costing up to £7.5million.

Manchester City has a significant presence at the Yas Island development, which boasts a club training academy, a dedicated 'City Lounge' and the team's logo and branding throughout the complex. 

Haaland delivered a video message at the project's launch, which also welcomed Alf-Inge and City's legendary former manager Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola also came out in support of his former employers after the damning guilty verdict against City, which found the club had used 'sham' commercial deals to disguise more than £900m in funding from their Abu Dhabi owners, artificially inflate revenues and understate costs over a nine-season period between 2009 and 2018.

According to an article published by Architectural Digest in June, Haaland's real estate empire consists of two properties in England, as well as residences in Marbella, Malaga and Oslo.

After City's 3-0 triumph over Liverpool on Sunday night, manager Enzo Maresca brushed off his club's conviction and repeatedly described the controversy around the guilty charges as 'noise'.

He said: 'The noise will always be there so we need to learn how to deal with that but at the same time we need to try and bring our noise, which is win games which is what we have done today. At the end of the game, our fans were singing so the noise was from us and not the environment.

'All the away games are going to be with noise so we need to learn how to deal with the noise. And at the same time, we need to make our noise. Our noise is we're singing at the end, our fans, and this has to be our target at the moment.'

Before the match, Haaland told Sky Sports: 'We have to stick together. We have to stay with each other and we have to stay positive no matter what happens in life - we always have to have a smile. We have to stay positive, look ahead and try to win football games and then try to enjoy the situation and win the game (at Anfield).

'We have to stick together and we have to spread the love to each other,' he added. 'Stick together and enjoy the ride and smile.'