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Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland recently scored five goals in his country's 11-1 win over Moldova in the ongoing FIFA World Cup Qualifiers (EURO) on Tuesday, September 9. The victory took the Norwegians to the top of their group table, with 15 points from five matches.
Haaland's side have won all their games so far, scoring 24 goals while conceding just three. After the match against Moldova, the striker went up to opposition goalkeeper Cristian Avram, who was understandably distraught after having conceded so many goals, to console him.
Speaking to Norwegian broadcaster TV2 (via Tribal Football), Avram gave an insight into his conversation with Haaland after the match.
"Hello, I'm the goalkeeper for Moldova and I conceded 11 goals. I spoke to Erling Haaland. He said, 'It's not my fault', and that he just had to keep trying to score because of the goal difference. I understand him. It's part of the game. He wanted to keep fighting," said Avram.
Besides scoring five goals, Haaland also bagged two assists against Moldova. He took a total of 10 shots on goal and had an impressive passing accuracy of 84%. The attacker had an xG of 2.53 as well.
Qualification looks likely for Norway after this result, as they now stand six points clear of second-placed Italy. If it happens, this will be the first time since 1998 that the Scandinavian country make it to the World Cup finals.
Erling Haaland has started the new Premier League season well for Manchester City
Erling Haaland has started the new Premier League season on the front foot for Manchester City, having found the back of the net on three occasions already. Overall, he has scored six times so far this season, including the Club World Cup.
In 2024-25, he missed out on winning the Golden Boot award in the Premier League even though he had scored 22 goals in 31 appearances. Overall, Haaland scored 31 goals and had four assists to his name across all competitions.
City's upcoming fixture against cross-town rivals Manchester United on Sunday, September 14, will be a big test of Haaland's abilities as he will be expected to score big and guide his team to all three points.
Fans remember the hat-trick he scored in City's thumping 6-3 win over their arch-nemesis in the 2022-23 Premier League season. While he will be marked closely by the United defenders on Sunday, Erling Haaland will be expected to score anyway.
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Mohul Bhowmick
Mohul is a senior football, cricket and Olympic Sports writer at Sportskeeda, and has been in the organisation for more than 6 years. Some of his best work includes 118 exclusive interviews with famous sports personalities, insider talk and transfer speculations. He has also covered the entirety of the 2023-24 ISL season, Kalinga Super Cup and 2023-24 Pro Kabaddi League from the ground.
An MBA degree holder in Finance, Mohul is also a professional cricketer and is currently in the reserves for Hyderabad’s Ranji Trophy team. He’s also played league football in Hyderabad.
His football interest sparked after watching countless Rahim League matches at the Gymkhana and supporting the State Bank of Hyderabad. He grew up hearing stories about the legendary Syed Abdul Rahim and his incredible football team of the 1960s, which had a big influence on him. He has admired Manchester United’s dominance in English and European football as well.
Tennis star Leander Paes, Olympic gold-medalist Abhinav Bindra, cricketing legend Rahul Dravid and football star Chinglensana Singh are Mohul’s favorite athletes. He is a staunch Hyderabad FC supporter, and Sahil Tavora’s 88th-minute equalizer in the 2021-22 ISL Cup final against Kerala Blasters is one of his favorite footballing moments. Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in shooting at the 2008 Olympics also had a huge impact on Mohul.
In his work, he strives to write relevant, accurate and unbiased stories by conducting thorough research. When not working, Mohul enjoys reading books and listening to heavy metal and rock music.
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