The Bundesliga returned this Saturday devoid of fans in the stands, hugs at celebrations and many liturgies. The new football, they call it. The coronavirus has carried all the normality ahead in this sport. Or almost all. Because normality is also the goals and Erling Braut Haaland is a man (boy) of traditions. The Norwegian jewel of Borussia (19 years old) only needed 28 minutes to break the fast and score the first goal in the return of the Bundesliga after the stoppage due to the pandemic. “It had to be him,” agrees the world press in the chronicles of the A strong victory for the yellow team against Schalke in the derby of the Ruhr area (4-0), where the young Nordic returned as if he had not been without competition for two months, leaving his mark: a goal, an assist and active participation in the other two goals.
“It took a carefree 19-year-old to resolve a tight situation. The Bundesliga returned with enormous pressure and expectations and that strange situation became noticeable. But Erling Haaland was not affected, he just did what he does since he was born: score goals. The striker made the first goal of the Bundesliga after the stoppage by the coronavirus, the tenth in nine games in the championship, “wrote the German Süddeutsche Zeitung. The irruption of the Nordic in Europe this season has been an event that has impacted Europe: sum in Borussia 13 official goals in 12 games, which are 41 in 34 games if you count those he did with Salzburg at the start of the season. Only Mbappé's ‘advent’ outshone that of the Norwegian. A letter of introduction that impresses and that is beginning to be fuel in newsrooms around the world still looking for the best nickname that reflects the voracity of this goal predator. José Manuel Delgado, in To ball, he dusted off one: “At 29 minutes, Thorgan Hazard gave a sweet pass to “baby face killer” Erling Braut Haaland, who with the coldness that will make him Christian's successor as terror of the areas, did not waste. It was a beautiful footballing moment, with or without an audience, with or without a mask ”. A nickname that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, coach of Manchester United and former coach of Haaland in the Norwegian mold, toured in Europe …
L’Equipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport, two references in France and Italy, respectively, agree on the same expression. “It had to be Haaland.” “The Norwegian striker for Borussia Dortmund scored the first goal on the return from the Bundesliga, it could only be him,” reflected the French newspaper. “Haaland and the Dortund, a sudden show. The Norwegian could only be the first to reach the ‘phase 2’ of the Bundesliga and welcome him to football ”. An impression they also had in the British Isles, where The Sun newspaper also emphasized the Nordic scoring prodigy: “There was little doubt that Haaland was a favorite to enter the history books. and to be the first player to score a goal after the suspension of the season by the coronavirus. It was his tenth goal in nine games and he patented a new celebration with social social distance ”.
The coronavirus stopped soccer in Germany, but for Haaland there was no break. He returned to stride, career, coordination of movements and the idyll with the goal of the privileged. “Two months had to wait for the ball to roll again in Germany. And despite the fact that much has changed with respect to what soccer was before the coronavirus pandemic, there were some little things that followed as if nothing had happened: Haaland scored another goal, the first in the return of the Bundesliga. The 19-year-old kid continues to write his name in the great history of German football, ”said Olé. Haaland is in fashion and Madrid does not take his eyes off him. It is the nine that he likes the most at the Santiago Bernabéu, the option to sign him is on the agenda and this Saturday he has presented a candidacy …