Erling Haaland marked his first game as Norway captain by becoming his country’s all-time leading scorer in a 3-0 win over Slovenia on Thursday.
The Manchester City striker scored a right-footed shot from a rebound in the seventh minute of Norway’s home match against Slovenia in the Nations League for his 33rd international goal to move level with the late Jorgen Juve on the country’s list of record scorers.
Haaland added his second after the break from an Alexander Sørloth assist to surpass Juve and add to Norway’s lead after Sørloth scored their second.
“Of course, it is big and historic. I’m happy, and it’s a fantastic record to achieve … I have many years left. I’m enjoying myself,” Haaland told reporters.
Juve, who made 45 appearances for Norway, had held the record since 1937.
The 24-year-old Haaland seemed destined to break the record. He had 32 goals in his first 35 games with the national team prior to breaking the record Thursday. He turned up all over the field, heading clearances in defence and orchestrating their attacks as Norway put in one of their most complete performances in years in front of their home crowd.
“It was a well executed match. I am proud. It is a record that has stood for a long time … I felt good. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much energy on the field,” Haaland said.
Norway, who have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since Euro 2000, top League B Group 3 with seven points, three ahead of Austria and Slovenia, with Kazakhstan bottom on one point.
Stale Solbakken’s side face a tough trip to face Austria on Sunday.
“Now we have a hard away game — even though we won at home, we must not build up our expectations too much, we must not hype ourselves up too much,” Haaland said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
