Erling Haaland scored twice in the second half as Norway strolled to a 3-1 victory against Cyprus on Tuesday. This victory helped Norway get their campaign for the Euro 2024 Group A back on track after they suffered an unexpected loss at home to Scotland by a score of 2-1 in their last encounter.
As a result of the victory, the Norwegians have moved up to third position in the five-team group with four points from four games, falling behind Georgia for second place on the basis of goal difference. Scotland is now in first place in the group with nine points from three games and will face Georgia on Tuesday.
Alexander Sorloth’s cross from the right side sailed barely over Haaland’s head but landed perfectly for Ola Solbakken, who blasted home his first goal for Norway in his maiden international match in the 12th minute. This was Norway’s first goal of the match.
Haaland made good on a penalty kick in the 56th minute and then followed it up with another strong finish in the 60th minute to bring his season total to 56 goals. This is the most goals scored by any player in any of the top five European leagues and is two more than Kylian Mbappe of France.
Even though the guest team’s Grigoris Kastanos scored a consolation goal in the dying seconds of the game to cut the lead in half, it was not enough to dampen the Norwegians’ spirits as they recorded their first win of the group stage.