Erling Haaland shows his human side as he opens up ahead of Man City’s Champions League clash with Copenhagen – who REJECTED him in 2016 – as he drops hint over his future

Satisfaction washed over a confident Erling Haaland on Tuesday. As 126 eyes and a dozen lenses narrowed in on Lionel Messi’s heir apparent on the world stage, he sat back, smiled and laughed in the kind of way that wins popularity contests.

Haaland finished second in the biggest of these, October’s Ballon d’Or. Behind Messi of course. The destruction of records, scoring 52 times in an unfathomably brutal debut season at Manchester City, proved not enough to topple the romance of a little magician who delivered Argentina the long-awaited World Cup.

And that’s what Haaland needs if he wants to dominate this space in the post-Messi era. Just that little bit extra, a storyline, or letting his personality shine.

Stardom has been around for a long time, and a Norwegian journalist who arrived in Manchester on a whim hours earlier couldn’t believe his luck when it became clear that Haaland was speaking to Copenhagen before the match on Wednesday evening.

But Haaland is starting to offer his supporters more insight than ever before. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Haaland is one of the stars of City’s new Netflix documentary, for example.

He will forever be at the box office, with the buzz on City’s training ground considerably louder than it would normally have been before the second leg of the Champions League last 16, where Pep Guardiola’s Treble winners had no trouble should be able to navigate through after winning the first leg 3-1.

But to see him captivate an audience, with little bits of humor and self-mockery, is such a far cry from the snarky and snarky youngster we were promised when he moved here from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

And this is the arena where Haaland can make gains over Kylian Mbappe or Jude Bellingham in the coming years. Not in penalty areas, because he will always score an unholy number of times per year. More when the lights are flashing, when the world is watching, and how he wisely cracks and shows how charmingly relatable the target cyborg can be.

It’s the kind of action that helps cults grow, as Cristiano Ronaldo realized especially early in his attack on what is considered normal. Maybe Haaland will decide to do this more often in the future.

“People say I’m good at scoring goals, but two days ago I missed the greatest chance in the world ever,” he deadpanned. Can relive that moment in Sunday’s Manchester derby when he somehow volleyed over Foden’s center from under Andre Onana’s unguarded crossbar without fear of recrimination.

‘I’ve missed, I’ve missed a lot of opportunities. Probably I will also miss a big opportunity in the future and people will criticize me, but what can I do? Should I think about that?’

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Haaland’s afternoon against a club he refused to name when he was unveiled 18 months ago was not that miss. It wasn’t the final goal that sealed the victory. No, after all that – and with stoppage time still in progress – Haaland turned to the south side of the Etihad Stadium and started celebrating the Poznan (the City fans’ iconic celebration of turning their backs on the pitch). .

Only briefly, but it was further evidence of how he embedded himself into City’s culture and how it suited him so well. The match was so good that the team immediately clicked that Guardiola was somewhat surprised. They had clearly also heard less desirable things about his character, but none of them came to light.

“It happened so quickly,” his manager said. “He was always smiling and it was so easy. Off the field he has made the biggest impression with his sweet character. The bigger stars are normally more modest, they understand better. Maybe that’s why they’re the biggest stars.’

City are keen for Haaland to sign a contract with them after 2027. Release clauses are said to be up for renegotiation as Real Madrid continue to monitor his situation and he insisted Manchester is currently at home.

While grilling his inquisitors, the 23-year-old added: “If I say this now it will probably be a big headline… tomorrow you never know what the future holds, but I’m happy. You can write this, but you also have to write down everything I said before.”

What preceded it was his admiration for Guardiola, the board and the directors. There was a sincerity in his words when the Norwegian said the reaction to last year’s success – the records, the Treble – could have gone either way.

“There’s two ways of thinking about it,” he said, rubbing his fingers together. “One thing is I came here and I won everything, and the other thing is I’m 23 and I won everything and I got a taste of what it’s like to win everything. My way of working is that when I feel this, I want to win it again. So easy.’

Unlikely, but still possible this season. First City must ensure that Copenhagen does not scare them on Wednesday. And then Liverpool does not take a four-point lead in the Premier League on Sunday.

Haaland was able to do without any more pain from the Danish champions after a week-long trial as a 16-year-old that did not end well. “It was in 2016, the trial,” he said. ‘A few guys at the club wanted me at the time, but not everyone. I was interested. I even got a shirt, which I actually still have at home. My destiny was a different path. It’s a decent way so far. It didn’t happen – sad for them!’

At that point he had not yet had the big growth spurt and had not yet become a ‘physical monster’, as a source from Copenhagen puts it. Haaland and his father, Alfie, had watched the first team train but academy bosses felt Jonas Wind was a better bet up front. Wind is just over 12 months older. Now at Wolfsburg, he has scored one goal in his last 19 appearances. The loser of that fight now has 80 in 84 matches for the best team in the world.

And Haaland has clearly not forgotten the week in the Danish capital, with a few friends standing in the vaunted ‘Sektion 12’ behind the goal in Parken acting as a constant reminder.

What he is good at is shaking off disappointments during matches. Guardiola discussed this this weekend, the quality of recovering from moments of failure. As proof, no one has missed more big chances this year than Haaland’s 26 in the Premier League, but no one has scored more than his 18 goals either. A new golden boot seems likely.

It is a quality, but not an innate characteristic. ‘It was a challenge for me. “When I was young, I remember I would start crying when we lost and I missed a lot of chances,” he admitted. ‘I worked on it a lot and it was a challenge.

‘I demand a lot from myself and all my teammates demand a lot from me, the manager and all the fans. I think it’s something to work on and in the end it’s all here (tap on head), it’s an easy answer but it’s also so hard.

‘It’s with everything in life: if you think about something, it’s not good, if there’s stress in your life, it’s not good. It’s a mental thing, it’s something I’ve been working on naturally.”

Without offering an explanation of how exactly he works on his mental sharpness, Haaland left those in the room wanting more. That’s what great entertainers do.