Courtesy: SportMob
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Erling Haaland has taken the footballing world by storm in recent months due to his goal-scoring record and consistency in front of goal, and the striker is already a revelation at just 20 years old.
Haaland is an integral part of Dortmund and had the best year of his career so far in 2020-21. Every team wants Haaland to be a part of their squad.
Here are 5 interesting facts about Haaland, that not many know:
1.Football runs in his blood
Erling was born in the English city of Leeds. Alf-Inge Haaland, his father and agent, was a professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder for Leeds United and Manchester City. Alf-Inge has made 259 professional appearances, scoring 37 goals and representing Norway on 34 occasions. Erling followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Norwegian International at a young age.
2.Haaland once scored 9 goals in a single game
Haaland scored nine goals in his team’s 12-0 win over Honduras, breaking the record for most goals scored in a single Under-20 World Cup game. This was also Norway’s biggest victory in football history. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Norwegian has maintained his goal-scoring form since then, scoring on nearly every occasion, whether for club or country.
3. He broke a world record aged five
Haaland still holds the world record for the longest standing jump for five-year-olds. His 1.63m record, recorded on 22 January 2006, still stands today!
4. He had a big impact at the age of 15
Haaland made his senior football debut at the age of 15 when he came off the bench for Bryne FK against Ranheim IL in Norway’s second-tier league. He impressed then-Molde manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enough to earn a move to the Premier League.
He was gone within a year of moving to Molde. This time, he was signed by Red Bull Salzburg, the Austrian champions.
5. Despite his physique, he’s super fast
Haaland has a lot of body to shift at six feet four. Despite this, Haaland ran so fast during the match against PSG that he would have qualified for the 60m at the 2018 World Athletics Championships.
In case you were wondering, that’s about 36 km/h (22 mph).
Having been compared to other young players such as Kylian Mbappe and his Dortmund teammate Jadon Sancho, the striker has demonstrated in recent months that he can compete with the other wonder-kids and is one of the stars to watch in the future. Currently, many clubs are behind him, including the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and even Bayern.