The Champions League is Erling Haaland’s stage! Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are gone and the Man City striker is set to rule the competition for years to come

The Norwegian has been fascinated by the Champions League since childhood and is on the verge of realizing his dream of winning the Champions League.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have both left European football, leaving a vacuum on the Champions League stage. Lucky for everyone at UEFA, Erling Haaland has already fulfilled these.

Portuguese and Argentinian have dominated European competition for over 15 years. They lifted the trophy a total of nine times and scored a total of 269 goals. They were also the biggest draw of the tournament, with two insatiable winners enjoying playing on Europe’s biggest stage.

But Haaland has the same hunger for performance in the eyes of the world. He has spoken at length about his love of competition and has expressed it in other ways, such as making the national anthem the ringtone on his cell phone.

Haaland loves her league of champions and she loves him too. Some of his best performances came on European nights for RB Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City.

On Saturday, the 22-year-old will play his first final at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium. It probably won’t be his last and if he keeps up his current scoring pace he could send off the tournament’s top scorer and biggest star, Ronaldo Messi.

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From childhood charm to playing the national anthem in the car.

Footballers say winning the Champions League is a dream come true, but for Erling Haaland it was more a goal than a dream. You could call it an obsession.

“I’ve been dreaming and thinking all this time. It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, so it’s been a long time,” he told reporters a week before the final. rice field.

Haaland’s fascination with the sport began in 2008, when he was seven years old when he watched the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea for the first time. As United danced in the Moscow rain after beating Chelsea on penalties, the young Norwegian watched in front of a TV in his hometown of Bryn and wanted to be a part of the game.

“Seeing the celebrations made me want to do it too. It’s getting closer,” he added.

Haaland’s love of the Champions League continued into adulthood, when he was at RB Salzburg and was filmed cruising the streets of Austria with the national anthem blaring from the stereo.

Harland was asked about a special Carsong for the final. “Again, I love this sport, I love it, I enjoy it, that’s why,” he said. “And it’s a really beautiful song, too.”

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Scored a hat-trick in his Champions League debut.

Haaland was prolific in his early experience in European football, scoring four goals in five Europa League qualifying appearances for his second club Molde in Norway.

His next move to Salzburg allowed him to play in the competition he wanted. And his debut couldn’t have been better. He scored in the second minute of his Champions League debut against Genk and scored a hat-trick before half-time to secure a stunning 6-2 victory.

His second game of the tournament was a dream come true at Anfield, where he made the scoresheet with a stunning comeback to level Jesse Marsh’s side from a 3-0 deficit. , Mohamed Salah fumbled to find a late winner and take the win, it’s 4-3.

Haaland continued to score in the next two Champions League games against Napoli, both home and away, and also scored against Genk. The only game in the group stage where he didn’t score was the final home game against Liverpool, who were eliminated from the competition after a 2-0 loss.

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The focus is on stadiums with no spectators.

Haaland has already outdone Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund have fallen and beat Manchester United before signing in January 2020. His first Champions League game for the German side was against Paris Saint-Germain, but he lived up to expectations and celebrated with two goals. his meditation pose.

This seemed to enrage Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as the PSG players mimicked the celebration as they beat Dortmund 2-0 in the second leg behind closed doors.

However, Haaland picked up where he left off the following season, scoring six goals in Dortmund’s first four games in the group stage before suffering a muscle injury. He rebounded in the round of 16, scoring twice in each match against Sevilla to make up for lost time. Even in empty stadiums, Haaland was the center of attention as the coronavirus pandemic dragged on.

Dortmund faced City in the quarter-finals and Haaland’s first goal at the Etihad Stadium should have been a very familiar sight. But it didn’t stop Dortmund from losing a first or second leg to Guardiola’s side.

Haaland was plagued with injuries last season and played just three Champions League games. Normally, he can still score on average in any game, scoring against Besiktas and twice in the 5-0 victory over the Turkish side in Dortmund.

By this point Dortmund were already out of the group stage and the fact that Haaland missed half the game is no coincidence.

1 goal every 50 minutes, then 5 goals in a match.

Haaland continued his love of the Champions League on his European debut for City, scoring twice in a 4-0 win over Sevilla. As fate would have it, his first European home game for his new club was against his old team.

And against Borussia Dortmund, he scored one of the best goals of all time, an incredible kung fu-like volley to win the game 2-1.

Haaland scored two more against Copenhagen before his injury, but despite playing only 250 minutes of football, he finished the group stage with five goals, averaging one goal every 50 minutes.

And in the knockout stage, he made Champions League history against RB Leipzig, becoming the first player since Barcelona’s Lionel Messi to score five goals in the knockout round against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012. The record could have been broken had Haaland not been substituted in the 63rd minute.

The Norwegian scored in every match and missed an away penalty in City’s quarter-final clash with Bayern Munich. The only disappointment of the season for City was the failure to score in both games against Real Madrid. But it mattered little as City won the second leg 4-0 in one of their most dominant performances in the Champions League semi-finals.

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There is no doubt about Guardiola.

City reached the Champions League final without Haaland in 2021, but the Norwegian is arguably the final piece of the puzzle and he made the team even more impressive. When City faced Chelsea at Porto in the 2021 final, they actually started without a striker, with Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus brought on in the closing stages of the match.

Haaland will be their main weapon as City prepare to face Inter. And Guardiola was unprepared to admit on the eve of the game that the striker had been struggling to score in recent games.

“I’m not here to discuss Haaland’s goals average. If you have any doubts, it’s a lonely man,” said Guardiola. “There is no doubt that he is ready to help us win the Champions League tomorrow.” When this last line was clear.

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Lifting the trophy in his head

Hold the trophy in his head.

Haaland did not shy away from the fact and reiterated it to reporters at the club’s media day ahead of the final.

“Take the Premier League, they won it twice in a row before I came here, so they know how to win the Premier League,” he said. “The only thing they miss now is the Champions League. They can think and read between the words and the lines. I’m here for a reason.” The responsibility of getting the trophies you never got will be a burden. Mr. Harland admitted that he feels responsible. But he’s also easy-going.

“Of course I feel the pressure. I would be lying if I said they didn’t. They say so themselves but it’s true – they won the Premier League without me and all without me.” won the trophy. That’s why I’m here to try something the club has never done before and I’ll give it my all,” he said.

The Norwegian already has a huge trophy in his head: “Of course I did,” he said. When asked what that meant, he added, “Of course it could mean anything.”