Stale Solbakken admits it was a “big blow” to lose Erling Haaland for Sunday’s dead-rubber Euro 2024 qualifier against Scotland at Hampden – but the Norway manager is confident the Manchester City striker’s injury is not a serious one.
The free-scoring forward withdrew from the squad on Saturday morning after damaging his ankle in the second-half of Thursday’s 2-0 friendly win over Faroe Islands.
“It’s a big blow for any team but we have played without him before, sometimes with success, sometimes without,” said Solbakken, speaking at Hampden on Saturday evening.
“We started the qualification when he was not ready for the first two games, but after that he has played every single game so it was unfortunate for us that he got the small knock on Thursday.
“It’s the movement in his foot that is the problem but it’s not a serious injury. Had it been a final, I don’t know (if he would have been fit to play).
“All parties agree it is probably a little too early (for him to play) but it is not a career-threatening injury.”
When asked why Haaland – a talisman for club and country – was risked in such a low-key match, Solbakken said: “It was his choice. He wanted to play 45 minutes to keep the momentum in a week where we were maybe not training as much. It was his decision.
“There were three players who have played many games and we had conversations with all three of them and Erling’s much preferred choice was to play 45 minutes.”
Many anticipated Sunday’s match being a qualification decider but Scotland’s 2-1 win in Oslo in June, when they scored two goals in the closing minutes to overturn Haaland’s penalty, has proved pivotal.
The Scots are already assured of a place in the finals in Germany and are six points ahead of third-placed Norway, who have only a slim chance of landing a play-off if results elsewhere go their way.
“It was probably the sorest defeat you will ever feel,” said Solbakken, recalling Scotland’s late turnaround in the summer. “I still wake up at night thinking about those last five minutes but that is life.
“If you look back now, those five minutes were very, very damaging. Otherwise the game tomorrow would have been a final. That speaks volumes.
“But we must congratulate Scotland on a great campaign. They have done really, really well, not only in this campaign but also in the years before that.
“They’ve played at a very high level and have also been good at bringing the margins on their side in tight games, which is very important in national football when there are so few games.”
Unless they manage to salvage a Euro 2024 place via a play-off, Norway’s run without major tournament football will extend to 26 years. The Scots ended a 23-year wait when they qualified for the Euros in 2021 and Solbakken feels his nation can draw inspiration from Steve Clarke’s resurgent side.
“Of course we can,” he said. “I think we are quite even. We always play very tight games against each other but they have been better than us with the small margins lately. We need to see if we can find that way too.”
Gary O’Neil hails ‘very impressive’ Wolves match-winner Hwang Hee-chan
Gary O’Neil hailed match-winner Hwang Hee-chan after Wolves edged out Burnley.
The striker’s first-half goal – his ninth of the season – condemned the Clarets to a 1-0 defeat at Molineux on Tuesday evening.
Wolves moved 11 points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with South Korea international Hwang earning praise from the boss.
“The numbers are incredibly impressive,” Boss O’Neil said. “Everything about him is impressive, will he continue at this rate for the rest of the season? I hope so. If the team can keep performing.
“When the ball falls to him in the penalty area I have a really good feeling he will be in the right area.
“It’s no fluke he has as many goals as he has, he’s bought in fully to what we’re trying to do. He arrives in good areas time and time again.
“It was a massive win for us. They are a good side, maybe it’s disrespectful to say ‘job done’ because they won the Championship by a long way last season, were the sixth or seventh biggest spenders in the summer. They have every right to be competitive, I’m really pleased as it’s a big win.”
Pablo Sarabia twice went close before Dan Bentley saved from Sander Berge and Josh Brownhill.
But Burnley shot themselves in the foot three minutes before the break to gift Wolves a winner.
James Trafford and Dara O’Shea played out of the back to find Berge, but the midfielder’s heavy touch allowed Sarabia to steal in and find Matheus Cunha.
He then picked out the unmarked Hwang who beat Trafford with a low finish for his ninth goal of the season.
From then Burnley struggled to create, with Bentley never troubled, as Wolves earned a first clean sheet since August and are now five unbeaten at home.
Burnley remain in the drop zone after a 12th defeat in 15 games and are three points from the safety line having beaten Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday, but failed to follow it up.
Boss Vincent Kompany said: “It’s decided in moments, we had ours, didn’t take them and in one of the few chances we conceded, we concede a goal.
“I looked at it quickly but we’ll have to do an analysis. If something went wrong it wasn’t just decided by this one moment, we can look at ourselves and say we should have scored.
“We have been in games for quite some time now, we have to believe this will give us the results.
“We play against teams with quality, we have to stay in positions where we can get results and today was close. This is where we need to step it up.”
Football rumours: Race hotting up in pursuit of Joao Palhinha
Bayern Munich will face stiff competition in their pursuit off Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha, 28. The Daily Telegraph reports at least two Premier League sides are watching the Portuguese player ahead of the January transfer window.
Arsenal are eyeing a move for Juventus youngster Kenan Yildiz, according to The Sun via Turkish-Football. The 18-year-old moved from Bayern Munich in the summer and earned his first Turkish call-up in October.
Jadon Sancho remains on course for a January exit from Manchester United. The Daily Mirror reports the England winger, 23, is “training like a beast” to prepare for the transfer window.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchDouglas Luiz: Aston Villa have put a £110million price tag on the midfielder to fend off interest, according to Football Transfers with Arsenal leading the pursuers.
Samuel Iling-Junior: Tottenham and Newcastle are interested in the English winger, 20, with Juventus making him available, according to Italian publication Tuttomercatoweb.
A special night – Mikel Arteta savours late Declan Rice winner
Mikel Arteta hailed a “special night” for Arsenal after Declan Rice’s headed goal seven minutes into stoppage time secured a sensational 4-3 win against Luton at Kenilworth Road.
Rice climbed to nod home Martin Odegaard’s cross and seal a victory that sent his team five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
That outcome had looked unlikely when Ross Barkley squeezed a shot through goalkeeper David Raya to put the hosts 3-2 up early in the second half and send home fans into delirium.
But Arteta said: “I really enjoyed it, especially the end.
“It’s the incredible thing about football, emotions and the moments that you live together. It was a special night.
“Credit to Luton for the incredible atmosphere that they created and the way they played. They made life really difficult for us. But we found a way to win. The resilience and the the character and the quality showed.
“Playing every three days, and we have to win every game, the demands are there. It’s the way (the players) go about it, how much they want it.
“Today we conceded some goals we’ll be disappointed with. That’s part of it as well, it’s going to happen. It’s how we react to that.”
Arsenal had opened the scoring when Gabriel Martinelli tapped home after being set up by a low cross from Bukayo Saka, though Luton hit back quickly when Gabriel Osho headed in from a corner to make it 1-1.
Arteta’s side regained the lead before the break, Gabriel Jesus nodding beyond Thomas Kaminski at the far post after good link-up play between Saka and Ben White on the right, but they were again pegged back shortly after half-time by Elijah Adebayo who out-jumped the goalkeeper to equalise.
Barkley’s goal, an effort straight at Raya that passed through his hands and under his body, put Rob Edwards’ side in sight of a famous victory.
That lead was wiped out within minutes when Kai Havertz scored his third goal in four games, beating Kaminski to the ball to score from Jesus’s dinked pass into the box.
Then late drama as Rice’s intervention with virtually the game’s final touch broke Luton hearts and extended Arsenal’s winning run to four league games.
It was the fourth league game this season in which Arsenal scored a winning goal beyond the 85th minute after similarly late shows against Brentford, Manchester City and Manchester United, with Rice scoring in the 96th minute against the latter.
“We don’t want to draw, we want to win,” said Arteta. “That drive, that energy, that risk and that emotion we put in the pitch, you can sense it.
“We should have scored before with the chances that we had. We didn’t, but we tried until the end and we got rewarded.
The manager would not be drawn on the performance of Raya, who was arguably at fault for two of Luton’s goals.
He added: “It’s not about blaming, we’ve never done it and we’re not going to do it now. It’s about how the team reacts to that. I loved that response. I think we can defend much better there, for sure.”
Luton boss Edwards reflected on a game from which his team can take confidence despite a disappointing conclusion.
“I didn’t know what to say to the lads afterwards,” he said. “I’m proud. We mustn’t let that one moment affect us too much, we’ve got to look at the bigger picture.
“They did exactly what we asked of them and gave everything. We’ve just come up short tonight.
“We made it a really uncomfortable night for them, we tried to make it chaotic, be aggressive and brave. We can take some positivity from it, and we have to.”
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