Haaland scores AGAIN: How Man Utd legend taught him to head the ball

FT Desk
FT Desk
  • Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
  • 3 min read
Erling Haaland, Man City, 2022-23
© ProShots

Another Manchester City game, another Erling Haaland masterclass.

By half time of Sunday’s Manchester derby at the Etihad, Man City were already 4-0 up after utterly dominating the first half against rivals Man Utd.

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Erling Haaland at Man City: Goals, assists, results & fixtures in 2022-23

Haaland, predictably, scored two of these three goals after Phil Foden had opened the scoring. The Englishman then added a second goal himself just before the break from a Haaland assist.

The Norwegian superstar’s first goal was a towering header as he soared above Christian Eriksen to power the ball over the line.

But Haaland’s heading had been described as a weakness at the start of his career.

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Indeed, it was former Man Utd legend and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who taught Haaland how to header the ball.

Solskjaer managed Halaand while he was coach of Molde in Norway and was responsible in helping develop the blonde striker.

How Solskjaer taught Haaland

“When I was in my hometown club, Bruyne, I couldn’t head the ball,” Haaland told Sky Sports ahead of the match.

“I wasn’t scared of it, but when you’re really new to something, you’re wondering how to do it.

“Then when I joined Molde with Ole, he was like ‘you cannot head, we have to start doing this’”.

Haaland’s first-half double took his tally for the season for Manchester City up to an incredible 16 goals from just 11 games in all competitions.

The attacker joined Man City from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of €60 million this past summer, as the English champions beat off competition from Real Madrid and Barcelona.

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