Erling Haaland is a phenomenon. And with every game, the Norwegian underpins this status. Wild rumors are circulating on the internet about petitions demanding the striker's ejection. Adventurous. Just like his salary, which a newspaper now wants to know.
Who or what is this Erling Haaland actually? A goal machine, of course, you know that. But what else? A human? A robot? One may consider this question pointless, but the evidence seems clear. But things are not that simple after all. At least not in England. Where Erling Haaland as a striker from Josep Guardiola's Manchester City group of artists is even more dangerous than at Borussia Dortmund. Which is humanly impossible. So a robot after all? This is a question that worries many people.
Among other things, the goalkeeper of FC Copenhagen. Kamil Grabara was defeated twice by Haaland in the 5-0 defeat on Wednesday evening in the Champions League - and was stunned. Like so many others before him. "Your goalie said to me, 'He's not human,'" said Jack Grealish, Haaland's colleague from the Citizens attacking department. "The first goal and the second goal just made me laugh. He's always there. I hope he can continue like this and lead us to trophies," said Grealish.
The winger is someone who marvels, who wishes that the mad streak would never end. But there is also the other side. Those of the desperate. Fans of other clubs are stunned and are looking for solutions to this phenomenon. Petitions are said to have been started, several journalists report on Twitter. One of them aims to expel Haaland from the country because of his unstoppableness and goal record. It should even be introduced into Parliament. Let's put it this way: it all sounds pretty absurd.
Like, by the way, a revelation by the "Daily Mail" on the Norwegian's salary. Citing his own information, the 22-year-old is said to collect almost £900,000. Per week! Converted to euros, this is: 1,025,377.39. Haaland could afford a Maserati Quattroporte every day. An icon of Italian elegance, as the automaker explains on its website.
Well, elegance isn't the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the Norwegian's game. Force would be the most appropriate term. Or buffalo. But no matter what you call what Haaland does with the ball, it's just unbelievable. In the Premier League he has scored 14 goals in eight games and is the undisputed top scorer. He also leads the Champions League with five goals. "It's crazy to see him score the second goal, for example," enthused Jacob Neestrup, Copenhagen coach, adding: "Today we played against one of the very best strikers in the world." Whether human or robot, who knows.
