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IT WAS DRESSED: Erling Braut Haaland receives a “slap for the match” from an Austrian rival. Behind the unused substitute for Norway, Ruben Gabrielsen. Photo: BJØRN S. DELEBEKK
ULLEVAAL (VG) (Norway 1-2 Austria) Lars Lagerbäck won’t blame the referee after Norway’s weak Nations League opener against Austria, but the winning goal was controversial at best .
If you ask Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland (20), there is little doubt that RB Leipzig player Marcel Sabitzer should never have had a chance to make it 2-0 from the penalty spot.
– I choose not to say anything about it, it is one of the dumbest I’ve seen, Haaland informs TV 2 after the game.
He had the scoring opportunity he had yearned for throughout the match when substitute Alexander Sørloth played it hard, flat and perfect in front of goal. Haaland bent his neck, shot the keeper and stroked his first national team goal.
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But Norway never got closer than 1-2, and it was the 2-0 penalty that ranked the most at Ullevaal afterward. A quick post from Austrian winger Karim Onisiwo caught Norwegian midfielder Sander Berge on the elbow.
The question is also whether Stefan Posch was in an offside position when he passed the ball to Onisiwo. But the flag never arrived, only the sound of the whistle of the Finnish referee Mattias Gestranius who scored the penalty to the guests:
– The rule has become such that the judge cannot be criticized, even if it remains a discretionary decision. I only saw one replay quickly, but Berge makes no move and closes his arm close to his body. He’s in a border country, says Lars Lagerbäck in the subsequent press conference.
– He’s too strict. Arm to body, short distance. Ridiculous penalty. Completely idiotic refereeing, commented former national team captain Brede Hangeland during the TV 2 broadcast when he could see the situation again on the road.
Former referee Svein-Erik Edvartsen points out that the distance from where the ball is delivered to the player sending the hand no longer has anything to say, but suggests that the European Football Federation (UEFA) will not like the interpretation of the hands of the referee at the premiere of the League of Nations.
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The penalty was decisive for “Fort Ullevaal” to be besieged again, after 15 home games for Norway without a defeat (with Lagerbäck as boss in 14 of them).
It was also the Swede’s 30th overall and the weakest in a long time. However, he would not blame others.
– Austria was better than us, we played a bad game. Although I don’t think the referee did the best he could, we will look at ourselves in the mirror. There’s nothing to talk about except we weren’t good enough, says the Swede, mentioning both the penalty, the offside and also the rude treatment of Morten Thorsby in the face of the 1-0 goal.
– But we will not use it as an excuse, says Lars Lagerbäck
