Dortmund’s Erling Haaland Adds to His Totals, and to His Legend

For more than an hour, the stalemate held: P.S.G. had the possession, Dortmund tried to strike on the break. Haaland, starved of opportunities, stuck to his job: he chased and harried; he took up his pressing positions; he sniffed around for chances. He did not lose heart. He did not lose focus. His moment was coming. Or rather, his moments.

The first strike, to open the scoring, was pure predator: that rare ability that strikers have to somehow turn up at the right place and the right time, stretching out a leg, lifting the ball over Keylor Navas. But it was the second, after Neymar had tied the score, that shook the Yellow Wall. Darting on to a pass from Giovanni Reyna, the 17-year-old American thrown on as a substitute, taking a touch, and then sending a left-footed shot screeching past Navas.

That was Haaland’s 10th goal in seven Champions League games this season. It was his 11th in his time at Dortmund. Raw data, though, is an unsatisfactory metric to communicate what made it so special: it was the power of the shot, how early he took it, the certainty with which he did so. Haaland has only just arrived — in Dortmund, in the Champions League — but he already knows he belongs. His teammates sensed it, too. This, now, is his moment. There is nothing else to do but let him enjoy it.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/sports/soccer/dortmund-psg-haaland.html