Everything Erling Haaland had to say in the interview with GQ Magazine

The Premier League’s current top goal-scorer, Erling Haaland, was recently interviewed by GQ Magazine, in which he revealed his admiration for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, how meditation helps his mentality, and exactly what is the most important thing in life.

Haaland opened up first about what we all want to know, how on planet Earth he is so good. “I try to be a bit more smart, a bit more sharp, ahead of the people I play against,” Haaland says, trying to explain his talent in words. “I try to be a bit more turned on in my head. Because if I do that, if I get one second, then I might be able to finish and he cannot block, for example. They think I go here and I go there” – he mimes a body fake to his right, before cutting left.”

So, there you go *checks notes to see who Manchester City play next*, Spurs (live coverage on AS USA), you know what to do.

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Haaland’s Champions League ambitions

The forward has scored 21 goals in 17 games so far this season; Harry Kane is second in the list with 15 goals in 19 games, lightyears behind. Haaland’s signing for Manchester City is seen by many as their ultimate step towards winning the trophy that has so far evaded the team owned by Sheikh Mansour, deputy prime minister of the UAE. However, despite their unlimited wealth, the English club are yet to taste European success; last season, for example, Real Madrid beat them in the semi-finals. Haaland tried to explain the success Los Blancos enjoyed last year.

“Sometimes, like the game against Real Madrid last year, when you see the goal Rodrygo scores – where Asensio heads the ball and misses it, and it hits Rodrygo’s leg and goes in the goal – sometimes I think actually there is a God up there who decides these things,” he says. “This mentality kind of thing, Madrid knowing that they’ve won it before? I don’t know if that’s a thing. Maybe. I will try to do everything in my power to win trophies here with Manchester City and to try to be the game changer. My goal is to win the Champions League, hopefully.”

Erling’s admiration of other strikers

While well on his way to becoming one of the world’s gretest forward players, Haaland was still keen to emphasise his admiration of those who arrived on the scene before he did. The City striker is still in his early 20s, but admits that being so young is not a problem in today’s world where conditioning and physical care allow players to improve as they get past their third decade. As an example, he used the current Ballon d’Or winner, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema: “Look at Benzema, he is 35 now and I think even better,” Haaland says. “So in 12 years I hope to be even better than I am now.”

Haaland admits he has studied strikers in order to improve himself “from Zlatan to Van Persie to Vardy to Agüero, Messi, Negredo, Edin Dzeko, Balotelli”, he says.

He does, however, admit that he is sometimes not on this planet, but in terms of mentality, that he likes to ignore people and focus on himself, not in terms of talent. “Sometimes I’m really like… I don’t know the word in English...Not in this world.”

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Haaland’s childhood

When he was young, Erling admits to being a skinny child, before his growth spurt at around 16 years ald, when his mentaltiy changed regarding his body: “honestly, my goal every day was to eat as much as I could, because I was growing a lot,” he says. “I had a lot of growing pains in different places in my body.”

Despite the huge change in the player’s physique, Haaland claims his football style has not changed since he was a child. “I still try to do exactly the same things I did when I was 13 in my hometown,” Haaland says. “I still do exactly the same runs. Show clips of me at 13 years old, you will see exactly the same thing.”

The mentality of an elite striker

When asked about his meditation practice, Haaland responded positively, saying “I think it’s a really good thing, to relax, to try to not think too much. Because stress is not good for anyone. I hate to be stressed, and I try not to be stressed. But the concept of meditation is to try to let go of these kinds of thoughts. It’s really individual, but for me it’s worked really well.”

He continued, talking about enjoying pressure and challenges, and how he approaches football: “I like to be under pressure,” he says, calmly. “I like to be challenged. Idon’t think too much about the game before the game,” he says. “I try to live here and now, not trying to think of what happened yesterday, what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Haaland, however, is unsure of how to reach this point in one’s mental journey, saying “I think a lot is [you’re] born with it. I think it’s a lot in your head, you know – to be focused, to be ready, to be relaxed in your head. I think that’s one of the most important things for a footballer.”

And finally, Haaland reveals the most important thing in life. “For me maybe the most important thing in life is sleep – not only a lot, but good sleep.”