‘By the way, I won that ball’: India’s star midfielder recalls facing Manchester City striker Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland made a switch to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in a £85.5m deal (including agent fees and other add-ons), and was announced by the Manchester giants earlier this week. The Norwegian youngster, widely regarded as one of the most prolific goalscorers among the current generation, ended his Dortmund career with an incredible 86 goals in merely 89 games. For Norway, he has scored 20 goals in 21 appearances.

Interestingly, Haaland has also played against India during his U16 days for Norway, and even scored a goal against the Blue Colts in the 2016 game. Norway had eventually won the game 2-0, but Suresh Wangjam, a member of that playing XI who went on to represent the Indian senior team in the future, recalled a special moment from the game.

A Twitter account had posted a picture of Haaland playing against India, with Wangjam attempting a tackle. Quoting the tweet, Wangjam wrote, “By the way, I won that ball. Just saying.”

Wangjam had also recalled taking on the Norway superstar on the field during an interview with The Bridge.

“We knew it was not going to be an easy game. We had a plan to face them. We knew their style of play and that they had one key player [Haaland]. It was a bit easy for us to know who’s going to mark the key player so that we put them under pressure and stop them from playing the ball forward,” the 21-year-old midfielder said.

Wangjam represented the country in the 2017 U17 World Cup, that took place in India. Following his appearance, he was picked by the Indian Arrows and since 2019, the midfielder is representing the Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League.

He was also part of the Indian squad during the recently-concluded AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, where India finished at the top of their group to secure a berth in the continental tournament.