Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly believes teammate Erling Haaland is attempting to play psychological games ahead of England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway in Miami on Saturday.
Haaland had described England as the “clear favourites” to progress to the semi-finals, but O’Reilly dismissed the comments as an attempt to unsettle the Three Lions.
“Yeah, mind games,” O’Reilly said when asked about Haaland’s remarks.
“But they’re a good team as well. They’ve showed that throughout the whole tournament.
“It’s not just certain players that we need to worry about.
“They’re good collectively, and it’s going to be a good game.”
Norway head into the tie seeking a first World Cup victory over European opposition after drawing two and losing four of their previous six such matches. Their only knockout defeats to European teams came against Italy in 1938 and 1998.
England, meanwhile, have won seven of their previous 12 meetings with Norway.
Haaland has been one of the tournament’s standout performers, scoring seven goals, including four match-winners. Only Poland’s Grzegorz Lato in 1974 and Italy’s Salvatore Schillaci in 1990 have scored more winning goals in a single World Cup campaign.
The 25-year-old has also scored in each of his last 14 competitive appearances for Norway, netting 27 goals during that run, while finding the net in all four of his World Cup matches so far.
O’Reilly acknowledged Haaland’s quality but insisted England’s focus would be on limiting his influence.
“Erling’s Erling. We all know what he’s like. He can score goals.
“He’s dangerous in the box, and he’s a real threat. But they need to get him the ball in first. A lot goes into it.
“I think keeping Erling quiet gives us a real chance to win the game.
“We know the threat he can cause, an unbelievable striker, world class and he’s showed that throughout the tournament, scoring every game he’s played in.”
