His neutral gaze and his pale complexion blend with his dry sentences, reinforcing the image of an imperturbable player. Erling Haaland was not very vocal in an interview published this Tuesday in France Football , on the eve of the knockout stages of the Champions League between PSG and Borussia Dortmund. "This boy is a kind of cyborg, cold, without emotion, who does not offer you much," says the journalist who interviewed him, Olivier Bossard, who compares him to "Yvan Drago in Rocky". "He eats football, breathes football, from morning to evening," he explains about the man all his teammates call "the Machine". Is it true that Haaland trains in his house? "Perhaps," replied the principal concerned during the interview. "Hmm ..." he retorts when asked if it's secret.
“The photo session with the photographer lasted 5 minutes. After two minutes, he was already asking if it was good. ”
Olivier Bossard, journalist at France Football."He gives the impression that anything that will not help him progress to become the best player in the world is only futility," explains Bossard. In total, no less than 83 questions are asked to the Norwegian international (19 years old), whose laconic personality is striking. Asked about his popularity in Norway, Haaland dismisses: “I don't know. You have to ask the others. ” His performance with the U20 national team at the World Cup, where he scored nine goals against Honduras (12-0), is then discussed. Satisfied that day? "Um ... it would still have been better if I had scored ten goals, but nine, that's fine," said Haaland.
Summary of the first leg Dortmund-Paris (2-1)
For Haaland, "there were really a lot of questions ..."
“It is not unpleasant, Bossard nuance. But the exercise of the interview does not interest him. The photo session with the photographer lasted 5 minutes. After two minutes, he was already asking if it was good. ” Haaland he thinks of the return match against PSG? "Not at all", in his words in the weekly. Really ? "No. I am calm." Where does this calm Olympian come from? "I do not know. I am cool. It's like that."
After multiplying the brief responses and the “Hum”, Haaland learns that the interview is over. "OK," he says. Teased about the length of the interview which constitutes a record for him, he does not hide his weariness: "There were really a lot of questions ..." Questions, Haaland does not seem to ask much before discovering the Parc des Princes this Wednesday (9 p.m.). And it's not the atmosphere in the stands that risks deconcentrating it.
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