The fixture every football-obsessed planet wanted at the draw. Erling Haaland — the man who eats goalkeepers for breakfast — versus Kylian Mbappé, football's fastest human. MetLife Stadium, the self-styled capital of the sport this summer, nearly levitates for this one.
France come in as Group I favourites after their opening win. Norway need points — badly. Haaland has had precisely two chances this tournament and turned both into goals. Didier Deschamps will have noted that.
Structured, disciplined, impossible to beat through the middle. Mbappé gets license to roam left and find pockets in behind. Ousmane Dembélé drops deep to link play and draw defenders out of position. The plan: absorb pressure, then release Mbappé like an intercontinental missile.
Everything runs through Haaland. Norway's wide players stretch France's defensive line to create space for his runs. Ødegaard orchestrates from deep. The question is whether Norway can actually keep the ball long enough to create those chances.
Haaland opens the scoring. Obviously. A Ødegaard cross, a first-time volley, absolute silence from the French bench. Norway lead at half-time and the script is being gleefully torn up.
Second half: Deschamps brings on Barcola for width. Mbappé wins a penalty — coolly dispatched — to level. Then, 78 minutes, a moment of sublime quality: Dembélé plays a defence-splitting pass, Mbappé runs onto it, rounds the keeper, rolls it home. France 2–1 Norway. Norway throw everyone forward but Lloris is immovable. Final: France 2–1 Norway.
A first-time volley from an Ødegaard cross. Salah who? Haaland exists in his own taxonomy.
Penalty to level, then a finish of genius to win it. The king answers.
In all the Mbappé vs Haaland noise, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner quietly runs the game. His assist for the winner might be the best pass of the tournament — and nobody will lead the highlights package with it.