By After Lionel Messi scored two goals to set the World Cup record and Kylian Mbappé kept pace in the career chase, Erling Haaland delivered another dazzling performance on a showcase day for the tournament’s top stars.
Haaland scored twice for Norway in the first 15 minutes of the second half of a 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday night, making up for clanking a shot off the post and getting denied on a header just before halftime. His performance came hours after Messi scored two for Argentina and Mbappé did the same for France.
Teammate Kristian Thorstvedt called Haaland a big-game player who lives for these moments. Roughly a month away from his 26th birthday, Haaland is showing he can keep up with some of football’s more experienced stars while playing on a team without the same pedigree or championship history.
