– It is quite sick. I feel sorry for Erling at times. This is what U21 national team player Johan Hove tells news about what is now happening with his friend Erling Braut Haaland (22). After the Norwegian superstar rounded off the season with a triple triumph with Manchester City and subsequent Norwegian international matches, he has taken a well-deserved holiday. – Strange When TV 2 kindly asked Haaland after the international matches last time how he was going to spend the summer, he brusquely replied that “TV 2 will probably find out very soon”. The slight frustration probably indicated that the super striker knew what was coming. Even though the season is over and the 22-year-old has retired from the limelight, clips and pictures of Haaland’s holiday activities keep appearing on social media and in the gossip press. Whether he is shopping in Barcelona or dancing with Isabel Haugseng Johansen at the wedding of teammate Aymeric Laporte, it is documented and posted online. – It is strange (to experience this) when I have played in a team with him for a few years and been close to him. I think it is exemplary that he maintains his down-to-earthness and personality. But then surely both he and I would wish that there was not so much pressure on him as there is when he tries to enjoy a few days of holiday after a triple. But he fixes it, says Johan Hove. Johan Hove feels sorry for his old teammate. Photo: Marius Simensen / BILDBYRÅN NORWAY Hove and the rest of the U21 national team are sitting in Romania right now where they are preparing for the fateful match against Italy in the U21 EC on Wednesday evening. There are a lot of clubs and scouts sitting in the stands and following along. If one plays big on this stage, it can be an important step on the way to a lucrative and sportingly rewarding career. The last time Norway was in a major championship with a U-national team, the U20 World Cup in 2019, it was a certain attacking player who really put his name on the map. Erling Braut Haaland scored the nine famous goals against Honduras and suddenly became a player “everyone” was aware of. The rest is history. Today, Haaland is one of the world’s biggest stars both on and off the pitch. – Something you just have to do Success and celebrity status do not come without consequences. Haaland can no longer go out of his own house before it quickly becomes headlines and news stories. The lack of privacy is striking. Is it worth it? – It’s something you just have to do. It’s a big thing to sacrifice all your privacy, but in my mind you win more than you lose. I don’t know how he thinks, but I think it is better and greater to succeed in such a way than to keep his privacy, says Antonio Nusa to news. Antonio Nusa is sure that everything will be worth it if he becomes one of the world’s best players. Photo: Marius Simensen / BILDBYRÅN The 2005 model is one of the biggest talents in Norwegian football right now and the youngest in the U21 squad that is in Romania and playing a fateful match against Italy on Wednesday evening. – I would have done everything But Nusa is absolutely sure that it will be worth sacrificing privacy if he succeeds fully. – Yes, 100 percent. Football is the most important thing, I had done everything to become the world’s best footballer. If I could become the best in the world and at the same time keep my privacy, then I would have chosen that. But that is not possible, says Nusa. – Voldsomt Erik Botheim, one of Haaland’s good friends, believes that the extreme interest in football’s biggest stars only emphasizes how great the appeal of football is around the world. Botheim thinks the friend just has to accept that this is the way it is. – It’s part of the package and just something you have to deal with. It is of course violent, but it is part of the package, says Bothheim. Ronaldo: – My private life has disappeared Haaland is far from the only superstar in the world of football who experiences a lack of privacy. Cristiano Ronaldo himself has dealt with it. – There is a bit of this that is fantastic. I’m famous, told I’m a great player, win trophies, score goals, get front pages in the papers and end up on TV. But after ten years of this, you look at life in a different way. Now I have a girlfriend and children, I want some privacy. But my privacy has disappeared, he said in an interview a few years ago. The Portuguese was open that he has tried to leave the house to do family things with the children and his girlfriend, but it doesn’t work. Immediately they flock around him, the photographers, the supporters and the crowds who want photos, selfies and autographs. – I’m not going to cry about this, but do you know how many times I’ve gone to the park with my children? Zero times! Not once, Ronaldo said with a sigh. Antonio Nusa, Leif Gunnar Smerud and Joshua Kitolano represent Norway in the U21 EC. Erling Braut Haaland could also have been there. Photo: Marius Simensen / BILDBYRÅN NORWAY Smerud: “Embrace being a nobody” U21 national team manager Leif Gunnar Smerud says he does not spend any time preparing his own players for how life can change if you get a breakthrough. He believes that it is part of becoming a top player that you have to master the public, and believes that the Norwegian talents master this in a fine way. – I’m not an expert on social media or paparazzi, but someone has said “embrace being a nobody”. It has its sides to living without that spotlight, and I’m guessing it has its sides to living with that spotlight as well. But that’s the way it is, says Smerud to news. Norway’s fateful match against Italy will be played on Wednesday evening at 8.45pm. You can watch the match on news 2 or listen live on news Sport on the radio.
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– Feel sorry for Erling – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
