Erling Haaland announced himself to the world last spring when he bulldozed Honduras at the U-20 World Cup, scoring nine of Norway’s goals in a 12–0 blowout. Anyone who considered that record-breaking nine-goal afternoon a fluke had a harder time hand-waving away the striker’s 16 goals in 14 league matches for Austrian club Salzburg over the first half of this season, and especially the eight goals he scored against the likes of Liverpool, Napoli, and Genk in the Champions League. And today, after his third-consecutive multi-goal day for Borussia Dortmund–his new club as of January–it’s impossible to believe this 19-year-old is anything other than the realest of deals.
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