Manager Josep Guardiola has spoken about Erling Haaland’s achievements with Norway after the Manchester City striker returned home early from international duty. The 25-year-old missed a penalty but scored a hat-trick as his country cruised to a 5-0 victory over Israel and on the verge of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
He took his international goals tally for Oslo to 51 after just 46 games, reaching his 21st goal of the season for club and country. But, perhaps strangely, Haaland was not only left out of the squad for Norway’s next match during the international break, he was sent home from camp entirely.
New Zealand won a 1-1 friendly against Norway with Finn Surman scoring the opening goal and Antonio Nusa equalizing just after the hour mark.
However, Stare Solbakken’s line-up was a bit more experimental, with Wolves defender Jorgen Strand Larsen leading the line and City star Sverre Halses Nippan making his debut off the bench.
Meanwhile, Haaland and a number of his international colleagues had already returned to the club.
“Sebastian Sevronsen is a member of the Norwegian national team and he and Sverre Nypan took part in today’s training,” the Norwegian Football Association said in a statement.
“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.”
Guardiola will be grateful that his star striker has been given some valuable rest by the Norwegian as he prepares City for Everton’s visit to the Etihad on Saturday.
Asked if it was the best game he had ever seen from Haaland, Guardiola replied: “I think so. His influence has been really great and his level of performance has been outstanding.”
“What I’m saying is, when does he drop? It’s impossible to keep it up, so I’m there and we’re there too. We have a passion to help the team achieve that and we always have to keep it up in the bad moments. He doesn’t need compliments right now, he doesn’t need anything special.”
“But this is really good because Norway hasn’t played in these big tournaments for a long time. It would be really nice and really important for him and Norway to go to America.”
Guardiola will be without Rodri to take charge after a long-term injury, but Rayan Ait Nouri and Omar Marmouche are close to returning.
