Capture of the entry of the entry of Roy Keane on Alf-Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby, played in the Premier in 2001, which forced the father of Erling Haaland to retire
In the name of the father, the son and the grandchildren
In life it is common for children to follow the professional career of their parents.
In football there are cases of kicks.
There are even three consecutive generations of footballers, such as Marquitos, Marcos and Alonso, who triumphed at Real Madrid, Atlético-Barcelona and, even today, at Chelsea.
Or in Italy with the Maldini: Cesare, Paolo and, now, Daniel.
Sometimes, the children can hardly stand out before the greatness of the father, as happened with Johan and Jordi Cruyff and now it happens with the young Enzo and the great Zinedine Zidane.
At other times, the level is quite even.
This is the case of two pairs of goalkeepers: Miguel Reina (who played for Barcelona in the sixties and Atlético in the seventies) and the incombustible Pepe;
and Kasper Schmeichel, who hasn't achieved the glory his father Peter did at Manchester United in the 1990s, but is having a more than decent career at Leicester City.
In many cases, the son has far surpassed the father: Sergio Busquets' dazzling career is unmatched by that of his father, Carlos.
The same can be said of Xabi Alonso and Perico.
More doubts may arise in the case of the Sanchis or right now that of Mazinho and Thiago Alcántara (the little brother, Rafinha, has not finished curdling at the same level).
The currently fashionable family is the Norwegian Haaland.
The father, Alf-Inge, was by no means a world figure, but he entered the Olympus of the Premier League thanks to his legendary tribulations with Roy Keane.
The son, Erling, is today the footballer that everyone wants and is already heating up the market for next summer.
Alf-Inge Haaland, a defensive all-rounder, arrived at Nottingham Forest in 1993, moved to Leeds in 1997 (Erling would be born there) and Manchester City in 2000. Within weeks of making his Leeds debut, Haaland and Keane had a struggle in Elland Road that ended with the Irishman on the ground showing great signs of pain and the Norwegian accusing him with the shouts of a swimming pool.
But it wasn't theater: Keane had just ruptured his ACL and was missing most of the season.
The theater came four years later, in a derby between United and City in September 2001 in which Keane took revenge on Haaland's affront of accusing him of faking and went for him in a chilling and deliberate entry that reached the knee. Norwegian's right.
The Irishman was immediately sent off (the last minutes were played) and then fined and suspended for three games.
The incident entered the annals of the Premier the following year, when Keane revealed in an autobiography that the entry was deliberate, although he never intended to injure "that great asshole."
The contempt was mutual: "I really have a dislike for United and I can't stand their players," Alf-Inge opined.
After that confession, Haaland and City announced a lawsuit against Keane for damages, but in the end they gave up: Alf-Inge had admitted in comments on his website that in reality the injury that marked the rest of his career was not the one that Keane provoked him in the right knee, but an earlier one in the left knee.
Alf-Inge Haaland is not the only Norwegian player to have made Premier League history.
Tore André Flo had a short but intense stay at Chelsea in the late nineties.
Gunnar Solskjaer was United's great hero in the historic 1999 Champions League final at the Camp Nou against Bayern.
John Arne Riise marveled at Liverpool's left-back in the early 21st century.
John Carew reached the Premier after having won two leagues with Valencia (2002 and 2004).
And Joshua King, little known to the general public but a hero in Norway, has been in the Premier for years and has signed this season for Everton.
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