Supports Haaland’s “girlfriend grip”

• Norway – Northern Ireland, at 8:45 p.m. Wednesday

ULLEVAAL (Dagbladet): Erling Braut Haaland (20) has almost got used to scoring a hat trick. The first of the season came when Norway beat Romania 4-0 at Ullevaal on Sunday.

Haaland has also gotten used to taking his hat-trick balls home. He has previously said, with a smile, that he calls them “his girlfriends” and that he “sleeps with them.”

After the Romania game, he was caught by a television camera when he took the ball from the referee’s hand. As with the other hat-trick balls, you should take it home.

He wants to have the balls as a trophy and use them as inspiration to score even more goals. But what does national team coach Lars Lagerbäck think about Haaland sleeping with hat trick balls, which he also calls “his girlfriends”?

When the forward scored a hat trick for Red Bull Salzburg against TSV Hartberg in September last year, he surprisingly gifted the ball to a spectator. Even more sensational was his response:

– I had to give it away. I can’t cheat on my second boyfriend, she told Sky Sport in Austria.

– I really have no opinion on this, says a smiling Lagerbäck to Dagbladet.

Then he thinks about it and continues:

– If you like doing it – and it stimulates you – then it’s positive. I am completely neutral. But if you feel like it, I am happy to support you.

It was in an interview with Norwegian media in November last year that Haaland said he slept with soccer balls in bed. At the time, he was playing for Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

– I have five balls on the bed. They are my girlfriends, he said.

– They are lying in bed and I sleep well with them. I look at them every day. The best thing is to score goals.

– You have to fill your entire hotel room with soccer balls for me, says the coach of the national team about the “girlfriend grip.”

Martin Ødegaard had an assist on two of Haaland’s goals against Romania.

– It was nice today. I hope the ball will split in two later, the Real Madrid player said in an interview with TV 2.

– Real Madrid surprised

“Yes, we can just go and share it,” Haaland replied. The fate is uncertain at the time of writing, but on Haaland’s Instagram page, Ødegaard later wrote:

– Cut the ball in two you.

The chemistry between the two Norwegian star players seems to be the best, both on and off the field.

On Wednesday, Northern Ireland waits in the League of Nations. Norway now sees an opportunity to win the group.

About the chemistry between Haaland and Ødegaard, TV 2 expert Jesper Mathisen says:

– It’s very gratifying to see it. This is something we were waiting for. Ødegaard is one of the best in the world at hitting sticks. And Haaland is the best in the world to collect them. The combination will be toxic for Norway for the next ten years.

– They have skills that fit well with each other. And then they seem to be good friends off the field too, Mathisen notes.

Start of the match Wednesday: 8:45 p.m.