The battle is on! Norway leads 4–0. Follow the match here. Nusa was lively right from the start and when the game clock showed 10 minutes and 26 seconds, one of the youngster’s biggest moments so far in his football career came. With a perfect hit on the ball, the shot from 10-12 meters whizzed straight into the goal. At 18 and 144 days old, Nusa is thus the second youngest goalscorer in the Norwegian men’s national team. – For a moment, said TV 2 commentator Øyvind Alsaker. THE YOUNGEST: Roald “Kniksen” Jensen (right) is the youngest goalscorer on the Norwegian men’s national team. Here with Thorbjørn Svenssen. Photo: NTB / NTB – That ending there is so precise. It’s so hard. He stands almost still and blows the ball away in the corner. Antonio Nusa. 18 years. What a gift from a footballer, said expert commentator Jesper Mathisen. – It was almost written in the stars. The boy was born in 2005, makes his debut for the Norwegian A national team and starts the match that way there, said news’s expert commentator Kristoffer Løkberg. The youngest goalscorer on the national team is Roald “Kniksen” Jensen. He was only 17 years and 230 days old when he scored against Finland in 1960. Youngest goalscorers for Norway Roald “Kniksen” Jensen – 17 years and 230 days Antonio Nusa – 18 years and 144 days Harald Pettersen – 18 and 176 days Per Bredesen – 18 years and 180 days Halfdan Ditlev-Simonsen – 18 years and 263 days First Norway goal for four players Nusa also came close to scoring a few minutes later. – He is on fire, said Mathisen. Last year, the Norwegian teenager became the second-youngest goalscorer in the Champions League, regardless of nationality. He is also the youngest Norwegian player to have played (and scored) in the Mesterligaen. Kristoffer Ajer headed in 2–0 halfway through the first half, before Jørgen Strand Larsen. tipped in the 3-0 goal from a very sharp angle. Strand Larsen’s score came after Nusa played free in the back room. – Just when I said that the rhythm in the attacking game had not been present, Nusa makes it reasonably easy. He again holds the ball at the perfect length and makes sure to send Strand Larsen in behind Jordan’s defence. Perfectly timed run, good touch and a nice finish from a very oblique angle, said Løkberg. Fredrik Bjørkan made it 4-0 with a fine shot from 15 metres, after brilliant preparatory work from Nusa and Strand Larsen. For all four goalscorers, it is their first goal for the national team. And it could have been even more. Martin Ødegaard had a couple of good chances, while Nusa also came close to scoring on several occasions. – He (Nusa) could have had a hat trick here in the first half in his national team debut, said Alsaker. – Nusa has simply been an attraction. It has meant that I have really enjoyed this round, with what he has delivered for Norway. When you see players like that really deal with it already in their first international match, you know that there is something big in him, said Løkberg. THE FIRST: Jørgen Strand Larsen could celebrate the first goal of his career in the A national team. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Break through as a 16-year-old Nusa had just turned 16 when he made his debut for Stabæk in the Eliteserien. As a 16-year-old, he occasionally wreaked havoc in the Eliteserien, where he scored three goals in four days after one goal against Bodø/Glimt and two goals against Viking. Later that summer he was sold to Club Brugge, where last season he played 32 games and scored two goals. In the summer transfer window, Chelsea made several advances on the 18-year-old, according to TV 2. It should have ended with Chelsea making an offer to Club Brugge worth over NOK 400 million. – It is a lot of money. Much money. But I try not to think about it too much. I can’t focus on it, like. I don’t think it’s good for me, Nusa told TV 2 this week. STABÆK: Nusa in the Stabæk suit in 2021. Photo: Carina Johansen / NTB
ttn-69