Olabode

🚨Erling Haaland on his conversation with Sander Berge after his penalty against Wales for Norway: 🗣️ Erling Haaland: “After I scored the penalty and we were celebrating, I thought everything was done. We were 3-1 up. The game was basically in our hands. I was thinking, ‘Okay, now we control the game and finish it.’ Then Sander came over to me. He said, ‘Haaland, we can still get more goals before the final whistle.’ I looked at him and said, ‘Mate, we’re 3-1 up. What more do you want?’ He said, ‘Another goal.’ I laughed. He looked at me and said, ‘Why are you laughing? Look at their defence.’ So I looked. He pointed towards the Wales back line and said, ‘They’re already stretched. Their midfield has dropped, the full-backs are scared to push forward and there’s too much space between their centre-backs.’ Then he said, ‘This is exactly when you punish them.’ I told him, ‘We don’t need to chase the game anymore.’ He said, ‘We’re not chasing the game. We’re controlling it.’ That changed how I looked at it. He said, ‘Stay high. Don’t come towards the ball. Keep their centre-backs running backwards. The next time we win possession, attack the space behind them.’ I asked, ‘And if they sit deep?’ He said, ‘Then come short once, drag one of them out and open the space for someone else.’ Then he pointed at me and said, ‘But don’t start walking around because we’re winning.’ I said, ‘I just scored the third goal.’ He replied, ‘Exactly. Now score the fourth.’ I laughed and told him, ‘You’re impossible.’ He said, ‘No. I’m trying to make sure they don’t get back into the game.’ That was the mentality. We were 3-1 ahead, but Sander wasn’t thinking about protecting the scoreline. He was looking at where Wales were vulnerable. He said, ‘If we start dropping now, they get confidence. If we keep attacking them, they start thinking about surviving.’ That was the difference. Then he said, ‘You know what happens when a team is 3-1 down and starts getting tired?’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘They stop defending together.’ I told him, ‘And you want me to punish that?’ He said, ‘That’s why you’re here.’ I looked at him and said, ‘Fine. Next time we win it, I’m running.’ He said, ‘Don’t tell me. Just run.’ That was Sander. Even at 3-1, he was already thinking about the next weakness. And honestly, that’s what good teams do. You don’t become comfortable because you’ve scored the third goal. You look at the opponent’s shape, you see where they’re vulnerable and you attack it again. We had already done enough to win the game. But Sander wanted us to make sure Wales never had the chance to believe they could come back. So yes, I enjoyed the penalty. But five seconds later, Sander was already talking about the fourth goal. That’s the mentality you need when you want to dominate a game.”

🚨Roberto Carlos on Portugal redesigning Cristiano Ronaldo’s number 7 instead of retiring it: 🗣️ Roberto Carlos: “Someone told me Portugal are redesigning the number seven to honour Cristiano, and I honestly had to ask, ‘What does that mean?’ Because if another player is still going to wear seven, then you haven’t really honoured Cristiano’s number. You have changed the design. For me, that is not enough. I know Portugal have had incredible players before Cristiano. Eusébio. Figo. Rui Costa. Deco. This isn’t about pretending they didn’t exist. But Cristiano gave Portugal something that is very difficult to measure. He became the player the entire country looked towards when everything became difficult. I played football for Brazil, so I understand what it means when a national team has one player carrying an enormous amount of expectation. With Cristiano, you could feel it. Before the important matches, everyone knew who they were going to talk about. ‘Cristiano has to score.’ ‘Cristiano has to perform.’ ‘Cristiano has to save us.’ And the strange thing is, he never ran away from that responsibility. He asked for the ball. He wanted the difficult moments. He wanted the penalty. He wanted the free-kick. He wanted to take the shot when everyone else was nervous. That is what made him different. People will remember the goals, the celebrations and the trophies. I remember the responsibility. I remember watching Portugal when the match was going badly and Cristiano was still demanding the ball. That tells you everything about the player. He became Portugal’s record goalscorer. He became their most capped player. He won the European Championship. He won the Nations League. He scored in World Cups. He gave that country more international goals than anybody else in their history. And he did all of that wearing number seven. So when I hear that Portugal have simply redesigned the number, I think they are missing an opportunity. Look at Argentina and Messi. They understood that number ten had become connected to a player who changed their football history. They found a way to honour that. Portugal should be asking themselves why they cannot do something similar for Cristiano. And before somebody tells me, ‘The regulations don’t allow you to retire the number,’ fine. Then ask. Make the request. Go to the authorities and explain why you believe Cristiano deserves it. If they say no, at least you tried. But don’t use regulations as an excuse to do nothing. Then people will say, ‘What about the next generation?’ Give them another number. Let them create their own history. If a young Portuguese player becomes a legend wearing number eight, number eleven or number twenty, wonderful. That player doesn’t need Cristiano’s number to become Cristiano’s successor. He needs his own story. And imagine what it would mean for that young player to ask why nobody wears seven. You tell him, ‘Because Cristiano Ronaldo wore it for Portugal for more than twenty years and gave this country something we decided was worth protecting.’ That isn’t limiting the next generation. That’s teaching them what legacy means. Cristiano shouldn’t have to ask Portugal for this. He shouldn’t have to explain why he deserves recognition. The federation watched everything. They watched the goals. They watched the trophies. They watched him carry the pressure. They watched him keep coming back when people said he was finished. They know what he gave them. So I think Portugal needs to make a decision. Do you want number seven to simply continue being a shirt number? Or do you want it to represent one of the greatest chapters in Portuguese football? For me, the answer is obvious. You can give another player the shirt. But you can never give another player what Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal. And that is exactly why I believe number seven should belong to his legacy forever.”