Who knows how many goals Erling Haaland might have scored had Pep Guardiola not ended his fun after 63 minutes of Manchester City’s rout of RB Leipzig? Haaland had to make do with the five he struck in a 36-minute burst either side of half-time on a night we would call extraordinary, were it not for the way he is redefining the goalscorer’s art on a weekly basis.
The five-goal haul took his Champions League tally to 33 in just 25 appearances. He also became only the third player to score five goals in a Champions League fixture, keeping company with Lionel Messi, who claimed his nap hand for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, and Luiz Adriano, who matched that feat for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014. Both those players contested the full 90 minutes.
“It could be he was a bit annoyed at coming off,” says Pål Arne Johansen, Haaland’s coach from Under-18 to Under-20 level for Norway. “On an intellectual level he would understand it, because of his schedule and injury history. But emotionally he might think, deep in his heart, ‘Argh, I lost my chance to score seven.’ This is Erling, it’s a beautiful side of him.”
Johansen did not rain on the young striker’s parade by hauling him off when, as an 18-year-old, he scored nine times against Honduras at the 2019 U20 World Cup. Now in charge of Norwegian club Odds BK, Johansen believes Haaland is the best “individual player” to come out of his country. “Everybody knows it, but the striker with the best honours, that is to come. He’s not achieved more than Ole Gunnar Solskjær, nor played in a big championship for his country.
“Nothing about his ability surprises me. What impresses me most is how stable he is. Even with all the attention, he consistently scores and performs well. Normally when you are young or a striker, it is up and down. The challenge now is to be like Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo and do it every year.”
But there is more to Haaland than goals. “Erling would rather win than score, if it was a choice between the two. He’s a team player. He was very joyful, happy in the dressing room. It came even more alive when he was there. He was a mood maker.
“My first encounter with him was just after I’d been appointed Norway Under-18 manager. I travelled to see a couple of players at Erling’s club, Bryne. It was winter: cold and dark. I stayed to watch first-team training and Erling had these colourful tights under his shorts, which was so unusual. They were playing 5v5, 2v1, 3v2, so there were lots of goals. I remember how happy he was if he or a team-mate scored. He was so occupied with his celebration that the opposition might score in the next attack. You could feel the joy of playing and scoring, even in the depressing Norwegian weather. It created a very nice atmosphere on the pitch.”
Haaland is now lighting up Champions League nights with that boyish enthusiasm. Watching a player progress while implementing the lessons learned coming up through the ranks is one of the thrills of coaching at youth level. Here Johansen casts that coach’s eye over Haaland’s five goals against Leipzig and reflects on the traits they highlight in his game.
Haaland opens the scoring against Leipzig from the penalty spot, sweeping the ball inside the left post. It is the fourth penalty he has taken and scored in the Champions League, all with his left foot.
“Erling has a large repertoire of penalties,” says Johansen. “He can look at the keeper, he can shoot both ways, he can blast it or place it. Would he score if he had a last-minute penalty to win the Champions League final? Yeah, he would definitely do that.
“You shouldn’t underestimate the mental part of his game: his desire and hunger for goals. After Honduras he was saying, ‘Argh, I should have had ten.’ He loves goals; it is hard to express in words how much. He is very fast and strong but when he sees the possibility of a goal, he runs even quicker and grows even more powerful. It is like running away from a wild animal: you have to get faster to survive.”
Two minutes later, Haaland darts 15 metres to harry goalkeeper Janis Blaswich into a slapdash clearance. City regain possession and Haaland lays off Manuel Akanji’s forward punt to Kevin De Bruyne, whose thunderous shot smashes back off the bar. Haaland leaps unopposed to head home the rebound.
“We worked a lot on the pressure game and he was very good at pressing players. He understands a good press can be the start of a counterattack that begins in the opponents’ half, then the way to goal is short. With Norway we worked a lot with him on those movements and he’ll have had many coaches doing that. I don’t think it is natural; it has to be learned.
“He didn’t like going to school but loved to study goals. He watched games with a pen and paper and paid attention to goalscorers and their movement. His room-mate would tell us Erling was writing notes watching football.
“On longer national team camps he would have individual training; he would practise against the keeper in different situations and was so desperate to score. Sometimes, when he started to miss, he couldn’t stop missing, because mentally he couldn’t let it go. But he learned to handle missing and to score the next chance – and the next and the next. Young Norway national players have a tremendous capacity for learning quickly and putting knowledge into action; Erling is no exception. He understands football and is receptive to coaching.”
Rúben Dias heads Jack Grealish’s left-wing corner against the inside of the far post and the ball travels along the line after hitting the woodwork. Amadou Haidara’s attempted clearance strikes the fast-advancing Haaland, who applies the decisive touch in a six-metre box containing nine outfield players.
“If you freeze the picture when Rúben Dias heads the ball, Erling has two Manchester City players [Akanji and Rodri] between him and Dias. Those two are closer to the goal than him, but he is the only one moving.
“When the ball comes, he is closest to the goal. We talked a lot about being on the move when the ball is travelling, so you reach it in time to score. I like his ability to always move to the back post; I think he is coached at Manchester City to appear there. Then, if the cross doesn’t come, he moves to other positions.
“Four of his goals in this match came after a first attempt, from him or a team-mate, was unsuccessful. Often you don’t score from the first ball but from the second or third. To understand that so many goals come that way, and to act accordingly, is typical of Erling. He is one of the best at knowing or smelling or anticipating where the ball is going to drop. If you score four goals in one game from second balls, it is no coincidence.”
Haaland jumps half a body length higher than two markers to power a header goalwards. Blaswich saves but Haaland is perfectly positioned to swipe home.
“Erling’s heading has notably improved – he has worked a lot on it. He jumps high and connects powerfully. That is good technique; the ability to leap was always there.
“He is alive until the ball is dead. Many footballers, after the first chance is gone, think, ‘Gah, I didn’t score.’ But he continues until there is no longer any possibility; he never stops wanting to score. If he misses and another chance comes one second later, he’ll take it.
“When he lands from that header, he is ready to shoot. His deadly left foot was a goalscoring guarantee from the start, but he had to work on his heading and his right foot. The speed and power have a lot to do with his mother [former heptathlete Gry Marita Braut] and father [Alfie, the former Norway and Manchester City midfielder]. He has good genes.”
Haaland completes his five-goal haul when he jabs out his right leg to knock in another rebound in a crowded penalty area.
“He is positioned in the middle of the goal but towards the back-post area, because he understands that when the ball is hit like that, it comes out like this. He reads it, visualises how the ball will come and thinks, ‘I will put it in the net like this.’ It is such a distinct trait. If the ball appears, he is ready. All his studying and practical knowledge, and always staying alive and hunting goals, make him look lucky.
“We use different learning strategies to teach this positioning. Egil Olsen, the former national team manager, was famous for studying goals. He would look where the goal was scored from. In what situation? How many touches? Lots of goals come from the first touch. Lots come from the back post, so if the attack builds on the right, the goal is most likely to be scored on the left.
“A very effective way of teaching strikers is to look at the best and how they score. And they have to practise with their team-mates – it is a team sport. Tell them: ‘I go to the back post like this, you have to cross like this. When the ball bounces back we have to be positioned like this.’
“You have to talk with the player, so his best traits surface when you play. If their left foot is stronger, do they want to appear on the left in all situations, no matter how we build up? How do you position your body when we build up on the left? After every game, go through what worked and how we can adjust.”
Who knows how many goals Erling Haaland might have scored had Pep Guardiola not ended his fun after 63 minutes of Manchester City’s rout of RB Leipzig? Haaland had to make do with the five he struck in a 36-minute burst either side of half-time on a night we would call extraordinary, were it not for the way he is redefining the goalscorer’s art on a weekly basis.
The five-goal haul took his Champions League tally to 33 in just 25 appearances. He also became only the third player to score five goals in a Champions League fixture, keeping company with Lionel Messi, who claimed his nap hand for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, and Luiz Adriano, who matched that feat for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014. Both those players contested the full 90 minutes.
“It could be he was a bit annoyed at coming off,” says Pål Arne Johansen, Haaland’s coach from Under-18 to Under-20 level for Norway. “On an intellectual level he would understand it, because of his schedule and injury history. But emotionally he might think, deep in his heart, ‘Argh, I lost my chance to score seven.’ This is Erling, it’s a beautiful side of him.”
Johansen did not rain on the young striker’s parade by hauling him off when, as an 18-year-old, he scored nine times against Honduras at the 2019 U20 World Cup. Now in charge of Norwegian club Odds BK, Johansen believes Haaland is the best “individual player” to come out of his country. “Everybody knows it, but the striker with the best honours, that is to come. He’s not achieved more than Ole Gunnar Solskjær, nor played in a big championship for his country.
“Nothing about his ability surprises me. What impresses me most is how stable he is. Even with all the attention, he consistently scores and performs well. Normally when you are young or a striker, it is up and down. The challenge now is to be like Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo and do it every year.”
But there is more to Haaland than goals. “Erling would rather win than score, if it was a choice between the two. He’s a team player. He was very joyful, happy in the dressing room. It came even more alive when he was there. He was a mood maker.
“My first encounter with him was just after I’d been appointed Norway Under-18 manager. I travelled to see a couple of players at Erling’s club, Bryne. It was winter: cold and dark. I stayed to watch first-team training and Erling had these colourful tights under his shorts, which was so unusual. They were playing 5v5, 2v1, 3v2, so there were lots of goals. I remember how happy he was if he or a team-mate scored. He was so occupied with his celebration that the opposition might score in the next attack. You could feel the joy of playing and scoring, even in the depressing Norwegian weather. It created a very nice atmosphere on the pitch.”
Haaland is now lighting up Champions League nights with that boyish enthusiasm. Watching a player progress while implementing the lessons learned coming up through the ranks is one of the thrills of coaching at youth level. Here Johansen casts that coach’s eye over Haaland’s five goals against Leipzig and reflects on the traits they highlight in his game.
Haaland opens the scoring against Leipzig from the penalty spot, sweeping the ball inside the left post. It is the fourth penalty he has taken and scored in the Champions League, all with his left foot.
“Erling has a large repertoire of penalties,” says Johansen. “He can look at the keeper, he can shoot both ways, he can blast it or place it. Would he score if he had a last-minute penalty to win the Champions League final? Yeah, he would definitely do that.
“You shouldn’t underestimate the mental part of his game: his desire and hunger for goals. After Honduras he was saying, ‘Argh, I should have had ten.’ He loves goals; it is hard to express in words how much. He is very fast and strong but when he sees the possibility of a goal, he runs even quicker and grows even more powerful. It is like running away from a wild animal: you have to get faster to survive.”
Two minutes later, Haaland darts 15 metres to harry goalkeeper Janis Blaswich into a slapdash clearance. City regain possession and Haaland lays off Manuel Akanji’s forward punt to Kevin De Bruyne, whose thunderous shot smashes back off the bar. Haaland leaps unopposed to head home the rebound.
“We worked a lot on the pressure game and he was very good at pressing players. He understands a good press can be the start of a counterattack that begins in the opponents’ half, then the way to goal is short. With Norway we worked a lot with him on those movements and he’ll have had many coaches doing that. I don’t think it is natural; it has to be learned.
“He didn’t like going to school but loved to study goals. He watched games with a pen and paper and paid attention to goalscorers and their movement. His room-mate would tell us Erling was writing notes watching football.
“On longer national team camps he would have individual training; he would practise against the keeper in different situations and was so desperate to score. Sometimes, when he started to miss, he couldn’t stop missing, because mentally he couldn’t let it go. But he learned to handle missing and to score the next chance – and the next and the next. Young Norway national players have a tremendous capacity for learning quickly and putting knowledge into action; Erling is no exception. He understands football and is receptive to coaching.”
Rúben Dias heads Jack Grealish’s left-wing corner against the inside of the far post and the ball travels along the line after hitting the woodwork. Amadou Haidara’s attempted clearance strikes the fast-advancing Haaland, who applies the decisive touch in a six-metre box containing nine outfield players.
“If you freeze the picture when Rúben Dias heads the ball, Erling has two Manchester City players [Akanji and Rodri] between him and Dias. Those two are closer to the goal than him, but he is the only one moving.
“When the ball comes, he is closest to the goal. We talked a lot about being on the move when the ball is travelling, so you reach it in time to score. I like his ability to always move to the back post; I think he is coached at Manchester City to appear there. Then, if the cross doesn’t come, he moves to other positions.
“Four of his goals in this match came after a first attempt, from him or a team-mate, was unsuccessful. Often you don’t score from the first ball but from the second or third. To understand that so many goals come that way, and to act accordingly, is typical of Erling. He is one of the best at knowing or smelling or anticipating where the ball is going to drop. If you score four goals in one game from second balls, it is no coincidence.”
Haaland jumps half a body length higher than two markers to power a header goalwards. Blaswich saves but Haaland is perfectly positioned to swipe home.
“Erling’s heading has notably improved – he has worked a lot on it. He jumps high and connects powerfully. That is good technique; the ability to leap was always there.
“He is alive until the ball is dead. Many footballers, after the first chance is gone, think, ‘Gah, I didn’t score.’ But he continues until there is no longer any possibility; he never stops wanting to score. If he misses and another chance comes one second later, he’ll take it.
“When he lands from that header, he is ready to shoot. His deadly left foot was a goalscoring guarantee from the start, but he had to work on his heading and his right foot. The speed and power have a lot to do with his mother [former heptathlete Gry Marita Braut] and father [Alfie, the former Norway and Manchester City midfielder]. He has good genes.”
Haaland completes his five-goal haul when he jabs out his right leg to knock in another rebound in a crowded penalty area.
“He is positioned in the middle of the goal but towards the back-post area, because he understands that when the ball is hit like that, it comes out like this. He reads it, visualises how the ball will come and thinks, ‘I will put it in the net like this.’ It is such a distinct trait. If the ball appears, he is ready. All his studying and practical knowledge, and always staying alive and hunting goals, make him look lucky.
“We use different learning strategies to teach this positioning. Egil Olsen, the former national team manager, was famous for studying goals. He would look where the goal was scored from. In what situation? How many touches? Lots of goals come from the first touch. Lots come from the back post, so if the attack builds on the right, the goal is most likely to be scored on the left.
“A very effective way of teaching strikers is to look at the best and how they score. And they have to practise with their team-mates – it is a team sport. Tell them: ‘I go to the back post like this, you have to cross like this. When the ball bounces back we have to be positioned like this.’
“You have to talk with the player, so his best traits surface when you play. If their left foot is stronger, do they want to appear on the left in all situations, no matter how we build up? How do you position your body when we build up on the left? After every game, go through what worked and how we can adjust.”
Who knows how many goals Erling Haaland might have scored had Pep Guardiola not ended his fun after 63 minutes of Manchester City’s rout of RB Leipzig? Haaland had to make do with the five he struck in a 36-minute burst either side of half-time on a night we would call extraordinary, were it not for the way he is redefining the goalscorer’s art on a weekly basis.
The five-goal haul took his Champions League tally to 33 in just 25 appearances. He also became only the third player to score five goals in a Champions League fixture, keeping company with Lionel Messi, who claimed his nap hand for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, and Luiz Adriano, who matched that feat for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014. Both those players contested the full 90 minutes.
“It could be he was a bit annoyed at coming off,” says Pål Arne Johansen, Haaland’s coach from Under-18 to Under-20 level for Norway. “On an intellectual level he would understand it, because of his schedule and injury history. But emotionally he might think, deep in his heart, ‘Argh, I lost my chance to score seven.’ This is Erling, it’s a beautiful side of him.”
Johansen did not rain on the young striker’s parade by hauling him off when, as an 18-year-old, he scored nine times against Honduras at the 2019 U20 World Cup. Now in charge of Norwegian club Odds BK, Johansen believes Haaland is the best “individual player” to come out of his country. “Everybody knows it, but the striker with the best honours, that is to come. He’s not achieved more than Ole Gunnar Solskjær, nor played in a big championship for his country.
“Nothing about his ability surprises me. What impresses me most is how stable he is. Even with all the attention, he consistently scores and performs well. Normally when you are young or a striker, it is up and down. The challenge now is to be like Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo and do it every year.”
But there is more to Haaland than goals. “Erling would rather win than score, if it was a choice between the two. He’s a team player. He was very joyful, happy in the dressing room. It came even more alive when he was there. He was a mood maker.
“My first encounter with him was just after I’d been appointed Norway Under-18 manager. I travelled to see a couple of players at Erling’s club, Bryne. It was winter: cold and dark. I stayed to watch first-team training and Erling had these colourful tights under his shorts, which was so unusual. They were playing 5v5, 2v1, 3v2, so there were lots of goals. I remember how happy he was if he or a team-mate scored. He was so occupied with his celebration that the opposition might score in the next attack. You could feel the joy of playing and scoring, even in the depressing Norwegian weather. It created a very nice atmosphere on the pitch.”
Haaland is now lighting up Champions League nights with that boyish enthusiasm. Watching a player progress while implementing the lessons learned coming up through the ranks is one of the thrills of coaching at youth level. Here Johansen casts that coach’s eye over Haaland’s five goals against Leipzig and reflects on the traits they highlight in his game.
Haaland opens the scoring against Leipzig from the penalty spot, sweeping the ball inside the left post. It is the fourth penalty he has taken and scored in the Champions League, all with his left foot.
“Erling has a large repertoire of penalties,” says Johansen. “He can look at the keeper, he can shoot both ways, he can blast it or place it. Would he score if he had a last-minute penalty to win the Champions League final? Yeah, he would definitely do that.
“You shouldn’t underestimate the mental part of his game: his desire and hunger for goals. After Honduras he was saying, ‘Argh, I should have had ten.’ He loves goals; it is hard to express in words how much. He is very fast and strong but when he sees the possibility of a goal, he runs even quicker and grows even more powerful. It is like running away from a wild animal: you have to get faster to survive.”
Two minutes later, Haaland darts 15 metres to harry goalkeeper Janis Blaswich into a slapdash clearance. City regain possession and Haaland lays off Manuel Akanji’s forward punt to Kevin De Bruyne, whose thunderous shot smashes back off the bar. Haaland leaps unopposed to head home the rebound.
“We worked a lot on the pressure game and he was very good at pressing players. He understands a good press can be the start of a counterattack that begins in the opponents’ half, then the way to goal is short. With Norway we worked a lot with him on those movements and he’ll have had many coaches doing that. I don’t think it is natural; it has to be learned.
“He didn’t like going to school but loved to study goals. He watched games with a pen and paper and paid attention to goalscorers and their movement. His room-mate would tell us Erling was writing notes watching football.
“On longer national team camps he would have individual training; he would practise against the keeper in different situations and was so desperate to score. Sometimes, when he started to miss, he couldn’t stop missing, because mentally he couldn’t let it go. But he learned to handle missing and to score the next chance – and the next and the next. Young Norway national players have a tremendous capacity for learning quickly and putting knowledge into action; Erling is no exception. He understands football and is receptive to coaching.”
Rúben Dias heads Jack Grealish’s left-wing corner against the inside of the far post and the ball travels along the line after hitting the woodwork. Amadou Haidara’s attempted clearance strikes the fast-advancing Haaland, who applies the decisive touch in a six-metre box containing nine outfield players.
“If you freeze the picture when Rúben Dias heads the ball, Erling has two Manchester City players [Akanji and Rodri] between him and Dias. Those two are closer to the goal than him, but he is the only one moving.
“When the ball comes, he is closest to the goal. We talked a lot about being on the move when the ball is travelling, so you reach it in time to score. I like his ability to always move to the back post; I think he is coached at Manchester City to appear there. Then, if the cross doesn’t come, he moves to other positions.
“Four of his goals in this match came after a first attempt, from him or a team-mate, was unsuccessful. Often you don’t score from the first ball but from the second or third. To understand that so many goals come that way, and to act accordingly, is typical of Erling. He is one of the best at knowing or smelling or anticipating where the ball is going to drop. If you score four goals in one game from second balls, it is no coincidence.”
Haaland jumps half a body length higher than two markers to power a header goalwards. Blaswich saves but Haaland is perfectly positioned to swipe home.
“Erling’s heading has notably improved – he has worked a lot on it. He jumps high and connects powerfully. That is good technique; the ability to leap was always there.
“He is alive until the ball is dead. Many footballers, after the first chance is gone, think, ‘Gah, I didn’t score.’ But he continues until there is no longer any possibility; he never stops wanting to score. If he misses and another chance comes one second later, he’ll take it.
“When he lands from that header, he is ready to shoot. His deadly left foot was a goalscoring guarantee from the start, but he had to work on his heading and his right foot. The speed and power have a lot to do with his mother [former heptathlete Gry Marita Braut] and father [Alfie, the former Norway and Manchester City midfielder]. He has good genes.”
Haaland completes his five-goal haul when he jabs out his right leg to knock in another rebound in a crowded penalty area.
“He is positioned in the middle of the goal but towards the back-post area, because he understands that when the ball is hit like that, it comes out like this. He reads it, visualises how the ball will come and thinks, ‘I will put it in the net like this.’ It is such a distinct trait. If the ball appears, he is ready. All his studying and practical knowledge, and always staying alive and hunting goals, make him look lucky.
“We use different learning strategies to teach this positioning. Egil Olsen, the former national team manager, was famous for studying goals. He would look where the goal was scored from. In what situation? How many touches? Lots of goals come from the first touch. Lots come from the back post, so if the attack builds on the right, the goal is most likely to be scored on the left.
“A very effective way of teaching strikers is to look at the best and how they score. And they have to practise with their team-mates – it is a team sport. Tell them: ‘I go to the back post like this, you have to cross like this. When the ball bounces back we have to be positioned like this.’
“You have to talk with the player, so his best traits surface when you play. If their left foot is stronger, do they want to appear on the left in all situations, no matter how we build up? How do you position your body when we build up on the left? After every game, go through what worked and how we can adjust.”
