Norway have much more than Erling Haaland to threaten Luis de la Fuente's party
The Manchester City forward has been ruled out
As Spain take on Norway on Saturday night, you could be easily mistaken for spending the first few minutes looking for one man: Erling Haaland. But the Manchester City forward won’t be there. Despite joining the Norway camp for training in Marbella, he left the squad on Tuesday morning to return to Manchester for treatment.
The Manchester City forward would have been pleased to be there, too. His three previous meetings against Spanish opposition have all been up against Sevilla.
In those games, he has scored two goals in each of his three matches, with four coming at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on visits with Borussia Dortmund and the Citizens. Even in Germany when Sevilla rocked up for the return fixture, he scored another two.
This isn’t the first time that he’s missed a friendly against Spain due to a minor injury either, as he was absent with a knock for Norway’s most recent fixture against La Roja in October 2019.
But Haaland is no stranger to Spain. He’s been learning Spanish for some time and spends his summers in Marbella, under an hour’s drive from where the game will take place in Málaga. This summer, he was even pictured playing football on the beach with local children and joking around with Real Betis captain Joaquín.
Those casting an eye out in search of Haaland will instead find a lanky, physical number 19 in his place. A certain Alexander Sørloth. He’s no stranger to fans of Spanish football.
The Real Sociedad forward is in the form of his life, averaging a goal every 186 minutes this season to record his best return since his spell with Trabzonspor in Turkey, where he recorded 31 goals in 2019/20.
As the Basque team’s form has faded in recent weeks, so has its centre forward’s. Without a goal since 13th February when he scored against Espanyol, this change of dynamic could do him good.
Powerful, aerially strong, but quick and technically gifted, he is a real handful for any defence. And that includes Luis de la Fuente’s new-look Spain team, with plenty of experienced heads in the backline.
This will be the first time that the new coach puts out a team for Spain with a full squad of his own choosing, having kept a clean sheet in the 4-0 win over Lithuania where he and the under 21s stepped up amid a Covid-19 outbreak in the Spain camp before Euro 2020.
The complexion of his line-up remains a mystery. In defence, the only potential debutant would be David García, the Osasuna defender who could get his first cap at international level at any age range at the ripe age of 29. Having made his 150th LaLiga appearance against Villarreal as Osasuna’s captain, he’s not short on experience.
What is clear is what Spain will be up against, and even without one of the most feared strikers in world football.