Champions: Erling Haaland, a giant of 1.94 with ballet tights | Champions League 2019

“It will be a worldwide reference,” says Michu, childhood idol of the current Champions League pichichi, only 19 years old.

In the last days of winter 2013, a 12-year-old boy began to attract attention in the academy of young talents of FK Bryne, the humble club of that coastal town south of Stavanger. Erling Haaland He had not yet hit the stretch, although he was already clear that he would never play in the same demarcation of his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, defensive midfielder who made a career at Manchester City and Leeds United. The kid wanted to be a forward and every weekend he enjoyed the goals of his favorite tournament, the Premier League. At home they had transmitted the passion for British football, so many times imitated in Norway, so Erling was immediately fascinated by the fashionable man in those days in England: Miguel Pérez Cuesta, Michu.

The ovetense forward added then 15 goals for Swansea in the first 25 days of Premier, a record that allowed him to rub shoulders with gunners of the prestige of Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez or Gareth Bale. This season, Haaland boasts 10 goals in the Champions League and eight in the Bundesliga. 18 goals in 12 games at the highest level. At 19, the former Red Bull Salzburg player has surpassed his idol to become more than the figure of Borussia Dortmund. “It has a lot of room for improvement and will be a worldwide reference in the coming years,” he predicts. Michu.

The current sports director of Burgos CF attends EL MUNDO only a few hours after the Haaland exhibition before PSG (2-1). “Despite her tremendous stature, her movements resemble those of a ballet dancer,” he says. «He has a terrible talent. He is much better footballer than me », admits the former Spanish international, who had to hang his boots in 2017, with 30 years, for the endless complications of an ankle injury. In recent weeks, his figure has returned to today thanks to Haaland's Instagram, which signed his childhood photos with an unequivocal label: michuoviedo9.

6.64 in 60 meters

On Tuesday, under the fanfare of the Champions League, the young Norwegian not only amazed with those two left-handed shots, impossible for Keylor Navas. Even more portentous was a race, after clearing a corner, with which he traveled, from area to area, more than 60 meters. As measured by the Sky chain, its sprint lasted for 6.64 seconds, only three tenths slower than the world distance record.

«I think he is an extraordinary footballer. He is very fast and very coordinated, but also a scorer, a killer. In a short time a lot of money is going to be paid for him, ”Michu predicts about the price of a star with a contract in force until 2024. The 80 million clause in Dortmund now seems like an acceptable price. Even for the inexhaustible ambition of Mino Raiola, who works four hands with his father, Alf-Inge.

Haaland's splendid 194-centimeter physicist somehow recalls Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the other great reference of his childhood. From those days in the FK Bryne Academy, little Erling stood out in all athletic disciplines. Thus, with only five years he broke the world long jump record in his category (1.63 m).

Nine goals in a match

Today, with the ball at his feet, his forcefulness in the area brings to mind Adriano Leite, The emperoror Robert Lewandowski, with whom he now shares the Champions League pichichi. And it should not be forgotten that last May, during the U-20 World Cup, it was already dispatched with nine goals in a 12-0 Norway against Honduras. Something like a hat-trick from hat-tricks.

Without reaching twenty, Haaland's impact is better interpreted in the heat of the comparison with Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest figures of this century. At the same age, the Argentine signed that goal Maradonian against Getafe and that triplet against Madrid at the Camp Nou. Despite his metatarsal injury, he finished with 17 goals in 36 games. In that 2006-07 season, Cristiano's game was characterized more by the skill in the band than by the forcefulness against the goalkeepers. Those nine goals in 50 games with United pale against the current numbers of Haaland, a giant with ballet tights.