Norway striker Erling Haaland set another record on Thursday after he netted twice in a 3-0 Nations League win over Slovenia to become his country’s leading international scorer with 34 goals.
Captaining the side in the absence of the injured Martin Odegaard, Haaland embraced the extra responsibility, but once again it was his goals that grabbed the headlines.
“Of course, it is big and historic. I’m happy, and it’s a fantastic record to achieve ... I have many years left. I’m enjoying myself,” Haaland told reporters.
The burly striker drilled home the opener in the seventh minute after Jan Oblak could only parry Antonio Nusa’s stinging shot into his path to go level with Joergen Juve, the last of whose 33 international goals came against an Austrian amateur international side in 1934.
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Haaland could have broken the record early in the second half but he flashed a header high over the bar, and fellow forward Alexander Sorloth made it 2-0 to Norway after Slovenia defender Vanja Drkusic’s attempted clearance rolled into his path.
Known for his direct, powerful style, Haaland spent much of the early part of the second half trying to tee up his teammates, but in the 62nd minute, Sorloth served him a perfect pass and he buried it with a trademark left-foot shot to move to the top of Norway’s scoring charts.
Haaland’s 34th goal came in his 36th international, nine fewer than Juve played in his career.
The 24-year-old Manchester City striker turned up all over the field, heading clearances in defence and orchestrating their attacks as Norway put in one of its most complete performances in years in front of its home crowd.
“It was a well executed match. I am proud. It is a record that has stood for a long time ... I felt good. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much energy on the field,” Haaland said.
Norway, which has not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since Euro 2000, tops League B Group 3 with seven points, three ahead of Austria and Slovenia, with Kazakhstan bottom on one point.
Stale Solbakken’s side faces a tough trip to Austria on Sunday.
“Now we have a hard away game - even though we won at home, we must not build up our expectations too much, we must not hype ourselves up too much,” Haaland said.
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