Generational goalgetter Erling Haaland will get a crack at his first major tournament next summer.
The Manchester City and Norway striker scored 16 times in eight World Cup qualifiers to drag his country to their first appearance in the competition since 1998.
And ‘drag’ is no exaggeration – no player, across any continent, scored more in qualifying than Haaland. No wonder one Norwegian journalist went as far as suggesting “there’s already a case to be made that he’s our greatest ever player”.
Few have managed to even come close to the 25-year-old’s ridiculous goalscoring feats in recent seasons – but someone who has is set to come up against him in the final round of group games.
Along with Senegal and one of the play-off winners, Norway have been drawn against Kylian Mbappe’s France in Group I.
It means the top marksmen in the Premier League and La Liga will go head-to-head for the first time in international football.
Mbappe, just two goals away from becoming France’s record scorer at the age of 26, has scored 16 times in 15 league games this season for Real Madrid. Haaland, already Norway’s record scorer and a whopping 22 goals clear of the next best, has scored 15 in 14 for City.
“It will be a great duel,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
“Kylian and Haaland are two players recognised around the world and they will be two of the contenders to be the top scorer.”
Expect goals. Lots of goals.
