It might not have been his best game, but Erling Haaland’s winning goal in Manchester City’s Champions League encounter against Borussia Dortmund is certainly in the charts of football’s most artistic goals.
His 13th goal in the City in nine games triggered a wave of astonishment, not only among his former teammates of Dortmund that he left only 122 days ago.
“Not many players kick the ball at a similar height,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic assumed, as German media came up with headlines expressing the greatest admiration.
Spanish newspaper Diario AS is assumed to have seen a “goal going around the world.”
German TV reckoned the 22-year-old could easily paint the ceilings of a flat by foot.
Former Norwegian international Jan Aage Fjortoft spoke of a “Zlatan-like masterpiece” reminding of similar artistic goals created by Swedish icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic, reports Xinhua.
British media asked: “Who is writing the screenplays for this guy?”
The smart cross of Joao Cancelo in the 84th minute found its way near Haaland in Dortmund’s box with the Norwegian goal-machine raising his foot near the crossbar and hammering the ball in.
“What a player,” an apparently amused Pep Guardiola said after Haaland secured a 2-1 victory.
“This reminds me of Johan Cruyff. He scored a similar goal long ago. You know what he meant for me,” the Manchester City coach added.
Dutch icon Cruyff, Guardiola’s inspiring teacher, scored by using his heel in 1973 for Barcelona against Atletico like a flying forward.
Haaland took the wave of compliments in an usual cool way by revealing “Things like that I practice. It’s my job to score goals.”
Haaland mentioned his long legs and advanced jumping skills, and talked about one of his best goals before pulling the leg of teammate John Stones, who had scored an equalizer with a hard shot.
Standing next to Stones for an interview, Haaland smiled mischievously and said, earning a loud laugh, “Well, my goal was a little bit nicer than yours.”
Meeting the former teammate must have foreshadowed the dreams of Jude Bellingham.
“To be honest, I knew he is going to do that and score. He doesn’t need much space; you give him a yard and he does it,” said the Black and Yellow midfielder.
