Haaland proud to be at the heart of Norway’s historic victory over Brazil at the World Cup

Erling Haaland has described Norway’s historic 2-1 win over five-time world champions Brazil as the greatest result and footballing match in Norwegian football history.

 Haaland was speaking after scoring a brace at the MetLife Stadium in New York to continue making history in their first World Cup appearance since 1998. Haaland is now tied on seven goals in this tournament with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. The 25-year-old says this result shows how Norwegian football has grown over the years.

“First of all, how I feel. I feel quite good after scoring two goals against Brazil and winning 2-1 against them, first of all. How much it means for Norway, I think I've said it before now but I think we are changing the nations,” said Haaland

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"First of all, I said that we've been growing balls now over time on playing football and all these kinds of things. I think the way we play today shows that Norway is a fantastic football team and that we're actually one of the better teams in Europe and in the world because what we've been doing is amazing and it took 28 years. It took some time."

“I'm 25 years old so you can't really blame me for that. You can blame me for coming here but it's unbelievable and I'm proud of my country and I'm proud of everyone.”

Ironically, Norway has never lost a game at the World Cup to Brazil, they had beaten them in France 28 years ago. Haaland was only three years old back then, and to net a brace against the Selecao in a World Cup, is stuff of dreams for him, as he describes the shock on his face after the final whistle.

The Manchester City striker has now established himself as one of the greatest players in his era, coming to his first World Cup to score seven goals. The next game is even going to be more interesting, coming up against England and some of his teammates at club level.

Norwegian goalkeeper Orjan Nyland also delivered a world-class performance to help his team advance to the World Cup quarterfinals, denying Brazil from the penalty spot in the first half and pulling off some top-class saves after that. Nyland says preparation was key in delivering this kind of a result.