The 19-year old Norwegian, who was coached by Ole Gunnar Solksjaer at Molde, bagged a hat-trick in the first half of Salzburg’s 6-2 thrashing of Genk on Tuesday.
Until Tuesday, the name Erling Braut Haland probably wasn’t too familiar among European football fans. But after his Champions League debut, everyone was aware of who exactly Haland is. The son of Alf-Inge Haland, who played most of his career with Leeds United, the younger Haland is determined to be even better than his father, as he voiced in an interview back in 2017. If this season is any indication, he’s well on his way to becoming a better player than his dad.
Before making the move to Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg in January from Norway, Haland was linked with a potential move to Manchester United. That fell through and now he’s lighting it up in Austria, but given his outstanding form currently, there is a very high chance the Red Devils could renew their interest in the youngster.
More from Champions League
- PSV Eindhoven v Rangers: Can Gers make it through to group stage?
- Manchester City win their first Champions League
- Champions League Final: Manchester City meets Internazionale in Istanbul
- Manchester City standing on the cusp of a treble
- Barcelona Femeni win their second Champions League title
Haland became the first teenager ever to net a hat-trick in the first half of their Champions League debut, raising his goal total this year to 17 tallies in just nine appearances. Yes, you heard that right. The young striker has also bagged three hat-tricks already this season, and eleven of his goals have come in league play through just seven matches.
His impressive play earned him his first call-up to the Norwegian senior national team, making appearances earlier this month against Sweden and Malta. He featured for the U-20 Norwegian team in the World Cup this past summer, scoring nine goals in one match in a 12-0 victory over Honduras.
Haland is proving that he is an absolute goal-scoring machine.
Physical and fast
At 6 foot 4, Haland is extremely big for a striker. He’s more built like a center-back than an attacker, but despite his large frame, he moves around extremely well. He’s shown the ability to score a variety of different goals as well. His hat-trick against Genk reflected exactly that, scoring two goals with his right foot and one with his left. Two of them were perfectly placed shots into the corners, and the last one was a simple tap-in from a cross. But the only reason he was able to score these goals was because of anticipation. He has a great sense of being in the right place at the right time, moving into dangerous areas in the final third, giving him the opportunities to bag goals.
He is a physical presence up front and when you combine his pace, goal-scoring abilities, and skill with the ball, you have a very complete striker who could be one of the best in the world in the near future.
Norwegian journalist Lars Sivertsen appeared on Talksport’s European football talkshow, the Trans Euro Express, praising how fast Haland has developed, making the Austrian Bundesliga look way too easy for a 19-year old:
"“He looks like a guy who’s playing at the wrong level, he should not be playing in the Austrian league. I don’t think they anticipated him developing as quickly as he has.“He’s looking absolutely terrifying and has so many ingredients to be a top forward. This is something that scouts will look for – it’s not as easy when you look for big and strong players.“But players who have size and are still quick on the ground, it’s one of those things you can’t teach.”"
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer managed Haland for just over a year and in just that small time frame, he netted 14 goals in 39 appearances for Norwegian side Molde. To predict that the youngster would be scoring goals at this inhuman rate would have been impossible.
But as we have seen in many years before, the Champions League gives players from all over Europe the chance to showcase themselves, just as a young Ajax team did last year, advancing all the way to the Semifinals of the competition. So far, Erling Braut Haland is one of the biggest storylines of the UCL group stage. Oh, and by the way, he also voiced in a post-game interview on Tuesday that he would love to see Salzburg be the Ajax of this year’s competition.
They’re definitely off to the right start but they will get their first real test when they head to Anfield in two weeks time to take on the current title-holders, Liverpool.
It will be interesting to see if Haland can create havoc against one of the best back-lines in the world.
Whether he does or not, there is no doubting that Haland is a very special talent.