Erling Haaland was on target for Norway in their 4-1 win over Israel on Tuesday night. Despite that, the Manchester City star is coming under heavy criticism.
Erling Haaland grabbed a goal in both of Norway’s World Cup qualifiers in this March international break, with his country winning both games empathically.
On Tuesday, Norway thumped Israel 4-2 as Haaland grabbed his 38th goal for club and country in 2024/25 (nine for Norway and 29 for Manchester City).
It marks another prolific season for the 24-year-old. But despite his goal-scoring antics, Haaland hasn’t been immune to criticism this season, on both the club and international stage too.
Manchester City fans have been critical of Haaland in recent weeks with his performance in the 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest being particularly scrutinised.
And Norwegian media have had some choice words for the powerhouse striker despite the resounding win over Israel, and despite Haaland getting himself on the scoresheet for a third-straight game for club and country.
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
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Norwegian outlet Dagbladet were particularly critical of Haaland with their opening line of their match report on the game reading: “Norway beat Israel, but Erling Braut Haaland’s blunders stole the show. Spectators and experts could hardly believe what they were seeing.”
The same outlet also quoted Norwegian pundit Carl Erik Torp as saying: “That Haaland has not scored after the chances he had is one of the biggest shocks I have seen in a long, long time.”
Instead, it was Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard who ran the game, grabbing three assists including the pass for Haaland’s eventual goal in 83rd minute of the game, when the score was already 3-1.
Photo by Maja Hitij - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Photo by Maja Hitij – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Erling Haaland’s stats vs Israel, and the odd thing he did after the game
As expected, Haaland was the man who got the most chances in the game. He recorded six shots on target (four more than any other player on the pitch), but came out of the 90 minutes with just the one goal.
Haaland also had two shots blocked, making for eight total shots in the game which might explain why Norwegian press were so stunned by his wasteful performance on the night.
Statistic Erling Haaland vs Israel
Shots on target 6
Shots off target 0
Shots blocked 2
Big chances missed 2
Then after the game, Dagbladet were also curious as to why Haaland got straight onto the team bus after the game, without stopping to talk to the press, dedicating a whole article to the incident which you can read here.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City return to action against Bournemouth in the FA Cup on Sunday.