Erling Haaland has returned to Manchester City ahead of schedule and is expected to leave the Norwegian camp ahead of the friendly against New Zealand. The 25-year-old striker helped Norway beat Israel 5-0 on Saturday, scoring a hat-trick despite missing two early penalties.
This impressive performance took his total goals tally for Norway to 51 in just 46 games. However, Staare Solbakken’s side only have friendlies left in their international week, with Haaland and several other players given permission to return to the club for domestic duties.
Despite Haaland’s departure, there is still plenty for City fans to look forward to.
Oskar Bobb could feature against New Zealand, while 18-year-old midfielder Sverre Naypan, who joined City from Rosenborg for £12.5 million in the summer, has received his first call-up to the first team.
Currently on loan at Championship side Middlesbrough, Nippan captained Norway Under-21s in their 4-1 friendly loss to Spain on Friday and is preparing to make his first-team debut against the All Whites in Oslo on Tuesday.
The Norwegian FA confirmed: “Sebastian Sevronsen is part of the Norwegian national team and he and Sverre Nippan are taking part in today’s training.”
“Players with a particularly difficult fixture schedule – Alexander Soros, Julian Ryerson, Erling Braut Haaland and Fredrik Bjorkan – will be returning home. Felix Horn Mühle will be away from the team due to an ankle injury.”
Norway won six of six matches and moved one step closer to qualifying for the World Cup against Israel.
With this match, Haaland became the fastest player to reach a half-century for his country. He reached 50 goals faster than Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Pele.
The remaining group matches will be played during the November international break. They will pick up Estonia on November 13th and head to Italy three days later.
Italy face Israel on Tuesday and will be desperate for a win to cut the gap on Norway to just three points as they look to miss out on next summer’s World Cup.
