Erling Haaland Explains His Viking Mentality and Love of Scoring Goals

The speed of Haaland’s shots, and hulking 6-ft. 4-in. body, have created a goal-scoring machine the likes of which the world has never seen. Haaland holds the record for most goals in an English Premier League season, won the Golden Boot for most goals in the Premier League two years in a row, scored a hat trick (three goals) in his European Champions League debut—on three shots—and is the only player besides Lionel Messi to score five goals in a Champions League knockout game. He once scored nine goals—yes, nine—in an under-20 competition for Norway. On June 26, during Manchester City’s 5-2 victory over Juventus in the Club World Cup—the 370th game of Haaland’s professional and national-team career—he scored his 300th goal. It took Kylian Mbappé 409 games, Messi 418, and Cristiano Ronaldo 554 to reach this majestic milestone. Haaland turned 25 on July 21. In soccer, tradition holds that when players score a hat trick, they receive a match ball, signed by their teammates, as a keepsake. Haaland’s hat tricks are so routine that last August, after he notched another one for Man City, a teammate scrawled “f-ck off” on the memento. Read more about Erling Haaland: https://ti.me/41lkV5Y Subscribe to TIME’s YouTube channel ►► http://ti.me/subscribe-time Subscribe to TIME: https://ti.me/4ofuHjX Get the day’s top headlines to your inbox, curated by TIME editors: http://ti.me/the-brief Follow us: Twitter: https://ti.me/4men4bG Facebook: https://ti.me/4fhsfWi Instagram: https://ti.me/44UleqS 0:00 Meet Erling Haaland: Manchester City’s Goal-Scoring Machine 0:47 Haaland on His Personality On and Off the Pitch 1:33 Why Erling Haaland Embraces His “Viking” Identity 2:17 Haaland’s Clash of Clans Collaboration 2:53 How His Father Inspired His Football Career 3:18 Why Haaland Became Obsessed With Scoring Goals 3:38 What the World Should Know About Norway 4:10 Haaland’s Dream of Playing in the World Cup #erlinghaaland