Keepers weepers

The crowd rose to its feet as Erling Haaland left the pitch on Tuesday night. Some players might have complained about being substituted after 63 minutes, but Haaland had already done his bit against RB LeipzigA city in southeastern Germany.. He had taken eight shots, all on target, and scored five goals in what would be a 7-0 victory for Manchester City.

Nobody had expected an easy victory: the first leg of the Champions League contest had ended 1-1. But the young Norwegian simply blew the opposition away.

"He was, frankly, jaw-dropping here," wrote Barney Ronay in The Guardian: "unstoppable in a way that felt different to any other, previous version of unstoppable... Here is a footballer who seems to be reducing football to its base unit, a perfect piece of maths."

It was easy to forget, Ronay added, that Haaland was still a "slightly goofy" 22-year-old who has never won a major trophy and travels with his dad.

The statistics tell their own story. He is one of only three players to have scored five times in a Champions LeagueThe championship for Europe's top football teams. game, and the fastest and youngest to reach 30 goals in the competition.

He has scored 39 goals for Manchester City so far this season, breaking the record set 94 years ago by Tommy Johnson. They include five hat-tricksScoring three goals (or other positive feats) in one game. - three more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues.

Football is in his blood: his father Alfie also played for Manchester City. Erling was just five when he started training with the family's local club in Norway, Bryne. At 15 he won a place in the first team.

Bigger clubs lined up to sign him. At 17 he scored four goals for Molde against the Norwegian league leaders Brann. At 19 he hit nine for Norway against Honduras in the Under-20 World Cup.

Signed by Red Bull SalzburgA city in Austria. , he became the first teenager to score in five consecutive Champions League matches. In 2019 he moved to Borussia Dortmund, making his debut as a substitute against Augsburg. Within 22 minutes he had scored three times, helping to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 victory.  

He joined Manchester City last June for £51m, and scored two hat-tricks in his first month in the Premier League.

His manager, Pep Guardiola, highlights his positive attitude:¹

"He can miss one chance and he never gets depressed, he isn't sad... the next one, he knows he'll have the chance and he'll be there. This is an incredible attribute for a football player... when you're thinking in the action, in the past, that's finished: you cannot be a good athlete. This guy misses and he thinks, 'OK, I'll have another one and another one.'"

A leading entrepreneurA person who sets up their own business., Dr Sam Collins, agrees that this is a key attribute.²

Failure, she says, should be seen as "a stepping stone on the way to success... Look for the greater message of the experience and expect it to, eventually, turn out for the good.

"It takes guts, resilienceThe quality of toughness and flexibility that enables you to bounce back after setbacks. and overcoming obstacles to make your dreams a reality. Yet it doesn't have to be an uphill battle and can be realised with ease, peace and serenity."

Yes: As Pep Guardiola observes, many athletes are held back by dwelling on opportunities they have missed. The fact that Haaland simply looks forward to the next one gives him a huge advantage.

No: His success is based on his physical attributes: he is 6ft 4ins tall and very fast. He is also brilliant at positioning himself and has a technique which means that most of his shots are on target.

Or...  His biggest advantage is his father, from whom he inherited his skill and his knowledge of the game. Alfie Haaland introduced him to club football as a child and continues to guide his career.