Last Tuesday Erling Haaland (20 years old) followed the evolutions of a Kylian Mbappé (22), who was bursting the foundations of the Camp Nou with a portentous performance. Previously, he had exercised at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium with his teammates, and on his return to the hotel where they were staying, a good group of people was waiting for him to see if he could take a photo, or at least, in these times of pandemic, see up close to the gigantic Norwegian attacker. Haaland distorted the term ‘cold’: he took a picture with everyone who asked him to… while enduring an incessant stream of questions and comments with a common denominator: him and a possible future at Real Madrid. The player went into the hotel hall when a couple of fans showed him the white team shirts with the intention of signing them.
After the match against the Seville team where he achieved two new goals, the Norwegian was explicit in the flash interview from UEFA: “The Madrid fans? It's always good that they love you … “. A simple message, but with a high warning load. If on Wednesday morning everything was praise and wishes for Mbappé, Haaland did not want to be relegated to being a mere comparsa. And the truth is that The Norwegian has been sending signals to the Madrid environment since 2020. Messages that seem irrelevant, but which agitate the Madrid environment.
One of his first messages was when responding to a comment about Vinicius in March of last year. The Borussia forward responded forcefully to an evening criticism from a fan of his who asked him about the Brazilian and the definition he made to score the first goal of the last Clásico held at the Madrid stadium: “Vinicius is a good player, a top talent” , he wrote on his social networks. His father also valued the Spanish League positively for the development of Erling: “The Spanish League is a very good League for my son, with great teams …”. In turn, players like Asensio, Ramos and Lucas they returned those messages copying the celebration of their goals in the games of Valdebebas … In October it was Zidane himself who, in the press conference prior to the match against Cádiz, dropped another wink back: “I'm not talking about players who are not mine, but what am I going to tell you: it's good …”, while throwing a defining smile.
Subsequently, in November, discovered who usually plays games on-line from a famous soccer game with the Real Madrid crest (with a team in which he has Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo as a teammate in attack). In December it was a compliment the white captain, Sergio Ramos, whom he ranked as one of the three best centers in the world in an interview with the Norwegian media VG: “I think the three best centers in the world are Sergio Ramos, Van Dijk and Koulibaly. All three are very physical, but also very intelligent on the field ”. The correlation continued in January, when he gave a ‘like’ to a photo of the completely snowed Santiago Bernabéu stadium last January. In Seville he launched another (“I like Spain …”) … Perhaps it is a strategy, a way to attract attention, what is certain is that the Norwegian striker measures his steps, as if following a certain strategy. A way to get to Real Madrid based on winks… mutual.