The paths of Erling Haaland and Manchester City seemed destined to cross. Blood pulls, of that there is no doubt, and the redemption of the surname seemed to be a necessity. It is that several years ago, before City is the almighty team that it is today, the father of the Android knew how to wear the blue jacket.
Alf-Inge Haaland, now 50, was a professional footballer in the 90s but his career ended abruptly. He started playing for Byrne, Norway, where he made his debut at the age of 18. Unlike his son, he played as a defender, but he was also able to play in English football.
His first club was Nottingham Forest, where he played from 1993 to 1997, played 79 games and managed to score 7 goals. His next club was Leeds, where he landed due to the relegation of Nottingham and where he played more games. In total, there were 87 appearances and 8 goals. There came little Erling.
But it didn't just expand the family in Yorkshire. His performances on the pitch earned him a transfer to Manchester City, who paid close to two million pounds sterling for his signing in 2000.
But you have to go back a little in time. You can't explain the abrupt end of Alf-Inge's career without going back to 1997. More precisely to September 27. That day Leeds beat Manchester United 1-0, but the most remembered is a play in which Roy Keane broke his ligaments for a cross with the Norwegian, who went up in smoke for believing that the always controversial Irishman was pretending on the floor.
Alf Inge Haaland contesting a ball with Roy Keane.
That temperament, somewhat irreverent, accompanied him in his career and continues to accompany him in his life. Recently, in the UEFA Champions League semifinal that Manchester City played against Real Madrid, the father of the creature was seen in a box at the Santiago Bernabéu provoking and fighting with Merengue supporters.
More than 20 years ago, football made him cross paths with someone more unrestrained than him.
Keane didn't forget that moment and, as the saying goes, revenge is a dish served cold. The Manchester classic, four years after the original altercation, was the setting where Keane would settle his scores.
The Red Devils were already champions of the Premier League, but they had the possibility of sending the Citizens to the relegation, who still did not have the oil of the United Arab Emirates as fuel for their economy. That encounter went down in history because fate wanted a split ball to have the Norwegian on one side and the Irish on the other. Haaland arrived earlier and Keane, with bad intentions, hit him with extreme violence on his knee.
"I had waited a long time. I hit him hard. The ball was there, I think. It was like saying, 'Take this one, you bastard. And don't look at me again reproaching me for simulations. And never stand on me again with contempt, talking about fake injuries," Keane confessed in his biography.
The action culminated with the Manchester United captain sent off directly and with three dates of sanction. But for Haaland the punishment was much greater, since he could only play two more games in his career: one with the Norwegian national team and another with City. He had to have surgery, but he was never able to return to a playing field. His official retirement was in 2003.
Roy Keane revealed that the kick to Haaland's father was motivated by revenge. [AP Photo/Gareth Copley, PA]*
Erling Haaland was born on 21 July 2000 in Leeds. That is, he has no memories of his father as a professional footballer. Everything he was able to consume is based on his stories or audiovisual material. With the injury of his father, in 2004 they settled in Norway and, from there, their story would begin.
The Android began playing in Bryne, a team in the second division, where he debuted in 2016. He only played 16 games and could not score goals, but that did not prevent him from making an important leap in his career. In February 2017, Molde made his signing official and at the age of 17 he was already one of Norway's top promises.
The Android scoring his first goals in the Molde. ( Svein Ove Ekornesvag/NTB scanpix via AP)
His numbers, for a youth, were really good: 20 goals in 50 games. In July 2018, Red Bull Salzburg disbursed 8 million euros, although the signing became effective in January 2019. Perhaps, with this transfer, his name began to resonate strongly in Europe. He was only one year, where he scored 29 goals in 27 opportunities and Borussia Dortmund, which is characterized by buying young promises, disbursed 20 million euros.
Already in the elite and with greater visualization, he began to cloud the world by his size (1.94 meters high), his great physical capacity and his enormous goal-scoring nose. The expectations placed on him were great, like any young man who bursts in, but he exceeded expectations. In 89 games, he scored 86 goals and dished out 23 assists. Fantastic. Enormous. And another hundred words can be used to describe his time in German football.
The offers were not lacking, and all of the best clubs in the world, but when Manchester City picked up the phone and was willing to pay 60 million euros, Erling did not hesitate to put on the last shirt worn by his father and with which he has several photos when he was little.
Speculation about whether or not he would fit into Pep Guardiola's system, whether he would give him to play in the best league in the world and could maintain the lurking pace he had until that moment were answered in his debut season. Premier League champion, he won the FA Cup and this Saturday he will seek to be champion of the Champions League.
With the conquest of the FA Cup and the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League is the last square to be filled. (Reuters/Paul Childs)
Those achievements would not have been possible if not for his goals. For Premier League he scored 36 goals in 35 games – he was only absent in three dates of the championship – and broke the tournament record held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, of 34 goals in a season.
For the Champions League, the most important challenge of the season and the historic opportunity for Manchester City to be crowned European champions for the first time, he contributed 12 goals in 10 games. Stratospheric numbers.
Istanbul will be the Android's first big date. His presence is frightening, given that he exudes a goal and is a constant threat. Beyond his chance to conquer Europe at the age of 21, his challenge lies in being able to put his last name at the top. That the ghosts of his father's injury are erased and he begins to relate to the relentless scorer who scares and is synonymous with goal.
To redeem is to free a person from pain or a painful situation. Erling will play for glory, for history and for blood. For redemption.
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