Erling Haaland: Ole deserves a lot of credit for teaching me

The Borussia Dortmund youngster also revealed that the current Manchester United boss taught him to be calm and composed.

One of Europe's hottest footballing property, Erling Haaland recently opened up about his bond with Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and how he learned a lot from him.

The Norwegian forward snubbed interest from many European clubs, including Manchester United and joined Borussia Dortmund in the January transfer window.

Both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erling Haaland were at Norweigian outfit Molde FK, before joining Red Bull Salzburg and his performances since then have made him a target for several top clubs in the world. He has had a great start with Dortmund and despite Lucien Favre's men bowing out of the Champions League after going down to Paris Saint-Germain, Haaland has already announced his arrival in the big stage.

However in an interview with Eurosport, the 19-year-old revealed that everything started back in Norway at Molde under the tutelage of Solskjaer as he reminisced a miss against Kristiansund in early 2018 which initiated the conversation.

“When I look back, it was really a pretty strange time, the start of 2018. That match somehow became a kind of turning point for my career, if you can say it that way,” Erling Haaland said.

“Now I can tell you what it was like for me. I'll try to remember, we played away against Kristiansund and lost 1-0. I missed against the keeper before the end," he added.

“Then we had a little holiday week. We were at Marbella training hard together, refining the combinations and relationships and getting sun."

“The game afterwards was Stabaek at home, if I remember correct. I remember I had a chance and hit really well, but shot in the middle of the target. I felt something stuck in me."

“I remember it was frustrating as a young striker, everything goes against you on training. I was alone with the keeper and the bar, got crosses from Ole Gunnar but I missed on every opportunity. I remember Ole then said ‘I think you start this game, so just be ready."

Despite the youngster being out of form, Solskjaer showed faith in Erling Haaland and it paid off as he scored in Molde's 3-2 win over Viking which was a turning point in his career.

“I had not had the best training week, but then it was good atmosphere in the room that I shared with Hestad. And I remember from the warm-up that I felt pretty light," he quipped.

His consistent performances meant he was always in the limelight in Norway, therefore once answering to a TV commentator's question of what he learned from Solskjaer, Erling Haaland revealed, "I forgot to tell you this, but before that game, Solskjaer and I did some practice on finishing. Not just crosses. I remember he taught me some easy rules.

"The first one, was on touch. That I don’t use too much power and trying to destroy the goal or the goalie with the ball. I think that I was thinking about doing that and it was something new that he told me. I trained a bit on that, but without scoring. But at least I had it in my head after that training session."

“That was something he taught me in the days before that game and he has taught me a lot to be calm, and also be on your toes and come to those situation where the ball is coming," he added.

"It is then you have the chance to score. He deserves a lot of credit for teaching me that," the Borussia Dortmund star concluded.