Norway and Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland revealed that Italy’s unorthodox attempts to put him off, including pinching his bum, “fired him up” for a performance which booked his nation’s spot at the 2026 World Cup.
Italy enjoyed a bright start to their final World Cup qualifier at San Siro against group leaders Norway on Sunday night. Gennaro Gattuso’s side raced into a 1–0 lead in the 11th minute through Francesco Pio Esposito—a player Haaland openly admitted to not knowing before kickoff—as they went in search of an unlikely thrashing to overturn Norway’s hulking goal-difference advantage.
Yet, the avalanche of goals the Azzurri needed never flowed, and Norway levelled through Antonio Nusa shortly after the hour mark.
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Haaland had remained on the periphery of the contest by this point, failing to register a shot or a touch inside Italy’s box across the opening 76 minutes. And that’s when Gianluca Mancini poked the bear.
“At 1–1 he started to grab my ass,” Haaland told TV 2 postgame. “I thought, ‘What are you doing?’ Then I got a little fired up and said to him, ‘Thanks a lot for the motivation, let’s f------ have it.’
“Then I scored two goals, we win 4–1, so that’s nice. Thank you a lot to him!”
For the first time since 1998, Norway have qualified for the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/lnLZqM4dNN
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) November 16, 2025
Having evaded Mancini’s fingers to find space inside Italy’s penalty area, Haaland swept a vicious, hip-high volley past his own Manchester City teammate Gianluigi Donnarumma to put Norway in front. Barely a minute had elapsed before Haaland was presented with another ball into the box, prodding a deft first-time effort into the far corner to set Norway up for a famous win.
“That’s probably the sickest result,” Haaland said of a World Cup qualification campaign which has brought an unprecedented eight wins from as many games for Norway. “That we come here and win 4–1 is absolutely insane, and it shows that we are a bit unpredictable. It’s pretty good for everyone to know.”
Erling Haaland celebrating.
Erling Haaland has scored 17 international goals for Norway in 2025 alone. / Daniela Porcelli/Sports Press Photo/Getty Images
While many were celebrating the fact that Norway had simply qualified for the World Cup—the first time the men’s team had achieved that feat since 1998, two years before Haaland was born—their talisman was already looking forward. “I feel this is the start of something big,” he warned.
It’s worth remembering that Norway’s domination of Italy came without Arsenal’s injured Martin Ødegaard, arguably the nation’s most talented player not called Erling Haaland. The duo have won their last seven international appearances alongside one another, combining to either score or assist a staggering 21 goals during that spell.
City’s No. 9 has proven to be adept at scoring even without the nation’s creator-in-chief, finding the net in each of his last 13 appearances for Norway.
Yet, for all his ambitions for the future, Haaland was planning on enjoying the moment. “We’ll probably consume a little bit of everything, it’s not often we do that,” he laughed. “I think we’ve earned that now that we’ve finally qualified for a championship.”
Norway’s Record at Men’s World Cups
Year Round Exit Record
1938 Round of 16 P1 W0 D0 L1
1994 Group Stage P3 W1 D1 L1
1998 Round of 16 P4 W1 D2 L1
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