Back in November, when the pairings for the last 16 stage of the Champions League were drawn, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai were quickly on the phone to one another.
Their friendship, formed in Austria in their teens and nourished through mutual support and shared congratulations for one another’s steps up the career ladder, is close.
Haaland and Szoboszlai are contemporaries, born three months apart and, at 22, long accustomed to the privileges of being the superstars of their national teams – Norway and Hungary, respectively – and the pressures of bearing such heavy individual responsibility for levering those countries up Europe’s hierarchy.
They are both sons of ex-professional players. Their bond mostly comes from the formative period they spent as teammates at Red Bull Salzburg, a hothouse for youthful talent and launch pad for a number of leading footballers and coaches and a club that formed the basis of an expanding corporate sporting empire.
The Salzburg supply line will be well represented in East Germany this evening, as Leipzig host the first leg of their tie against City.
The home team’s coach, Marco Rose, built up his reputation there. A number of current Leipzig players followed the established feeder route from the Austrian club, the starting point of the Red Bull soft drink company’s investment in football, to the Bundesliga club who rose up through the German lower divisions on the back of its backing.
In another timeline, Haaland might have made the same journey, from Salzburg to Leipzig, as Szoboszlai or the midfielder Konrad Laimer did. But it was clear, even in his teens, that Haaland was destined for a more accelerated path upwards. From Salzburg he went first to Borussia Dortmund, and, last summer, to the serial champions of the Premier League.
Haaland’s career plan had been carefully plotted from a very young age. But leaving his native Norway was an important threshold, an anxious time even for a confident young man who seldom gives off signs of nerves.
“When Erling arrived at Salzburg at 18 years old, I gave him some help,” Szoboszlai reminisced to Kicker magazine. “I knew the feeling of being new, not speaking the language and I wanted to show him things.”
Szoboszlai had been at Salzburg for 18 months already and had a league title to his name. He welcomed his new teammate off the pitch and on it.
He scored one of the goals that made Haaland’s debut in Austria a winning one and, from his advanced position in midfield, would soon be part of the supply-line of passes to a goalscoring phenomenon.
Szoboszlai played a decisive part in a run of three Haaland hat-tricks within the first six weeks of Salzburg’s 2019-20 season, when the Hungarian was the club’s leading assister, and until he left for Dortmund that winter, the giant Norwegian their leading marksman. “Ultimately,” reflected Szoboszlai, “I learnt more from him that he probably learnt from me.”
Arsenal 1 Man City 3: Player ratings
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ARSENAL RATINGS: Aaron Ramsdale 7: Left in no man’s land by Tomiyasu pass ahead of De Bruyne’s goal. Saw Rodri header hit crossbar on brink of half-time. Beaten by deflected Grealish shot and no chance with Haaland finish. Reuters -
Takehiro Tomiyasu 4: Disastrous back-pass gifted opening goal to De Bruyne. Side-footed chance over bar at other end minutes later. Booked just after break for trying to steal a few metres with throw-in. Deflected Grealish’s shot for City’s second. Not Japanese full-back’s night. AP -
Gabriel 6: Gave away second-half penalty and was booked for bundling over Haaland but rescued by VAR offside call against big Norwegian. Gave ball away at start of move that led to Grealish scoring. AP -
William Saliba 7: Has been top quality this season and had OK night up against the toughest of opponents in Haaland but couldn’t stop Norwegian putting City 3-1 up. PA -
Olseksandr Zinchenko 7: Left-back’s brilliant cross saw Nketiah miss first big chance of game. Frustrating night against former club who proved too strong in end. AFP -
Jorginho 6: Slotted well into Arsenal’s midfield although one or two moments when he wasn’t quite on same wavelength as new teammates. AP -
Granit Xhaka 8: Wild shot over bar in second minute but generally was Arsenal driving force from midfield. His fine pass put Nketiah through on goal that ended with penalty for Gunners. Took too long to get shot away when found himself in good position late in second half. AFP -
Martin Odegaard 7: Not the dominating force in midfield that he has been so regularly this campaign. Not that Norwegian had bad game just City made life much tougher for midfielder after break putting him under much more pressure. EPA -
Bukayo Saka 7: Kept his composure after long City protests over penalty decision before calmly sending Brazilian wrong way from spot. Took a few kicks off Silva until the City player was finally booked. AP -
Gabriel Martinelli 6: Has been key player in Arsenal’s charge to the top of the table this season but couldn’t really get into the game here and taken off in second half. EPA -
Eddie Nketiah 6: Headed glorious chance wide in 21st minute when he should have scored. Fouled by Ederson just after shooting from wide angle that resulted in Arsenal winning penalty. Booked for studs-up challenge on Dias. Missed another headed opportunity late in game. AP -
SUBS: Landro Trossard (On for Martinelli 75’) 6: Had home fans appealing for penalty after going down in box but rightly waved away by referee. PA -
Fabio Vieira (On for Xhaka 83’) N/A. PA -
Ben White (On for Tomiyasu 83’) N/A. AFP -
MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Ederson 7: Booked for time-wasting in first half then took out Nketiah minutes later to give away penalty. Arsenal managed just one shot on target against Brazilian all night when Saka scored from spot. Getty -
Kyle Walker 7: Did well against in-form Arsenal attackers, particularly Martinelli who had very little impact. Unusual booking for coming back on to field without referee’s permission in opening 45 minutes. Reuters -
Ruben Dias 8: Great covering in 11th minute when Portuguese centre-half was over quickly to Nketiah shot. Great defending again 15 minutes from time to nick ball off feet of Xhaka. Getty -
Nathan Ake 7: Produced brilliant last-ditch sliding effort to clear Nketiah shot off line - only for referee to give penalty for Ederson’s challenge on Arsenal striker. Reuters -
Ilkay Gundogan 7: German midfielder provided simple ball into feet of Grealish after quick City break ended with City attacker scoring. Also played key role in Haaland’s goal. Reuters -
Rodri 8: Saw header just before break hit crossbar after clipping leg of teammate Ake. Regularly broke up Arsenal’s attacks and set team off on the counter. The fulcrum in midfield who was absolutely crucial to City’s win. PA -
Kevin de Bruyne 9: Absolutely stunning first-time finish to clip ball over Ramsdale and put City in front and provided assist for Haaland’s goal. Angry shove on Mikel Arteta in second half when Arsenal manager blocked Belgian trying to take quick throw-in. Getty -
Bernardo Silva 7: Extra defensive responsibility trying to contain Saka down the left flank but was no surprise when he picked up first-half booking for series of challenges on England attacker. Moved out on to right later in second half. EPA -
Jack Grealish 7: England attacker put City back in front with a deflected finish in 71st minute for only his third goal this season. Booked for complaining after corner decision was, correctly, not given in his favour. AFP -
Riyad Mahrez 6: Picked out Haaland with fine ball over defence in 15th minute but that was extent of his big moments in pretty quiet match for Algerian. Hooked just after hour mark. AFP -
Erling Haaland 8: Only sniff of goal came in first half came after quarter-of-an-hour but could only redirect the ball back across face of goal with no teammate waiting. Won City a penalty only for offside call by VAR earlier in move. Finished confidently to put City 3-1 ahead. EPA -
SUBS: Manuel Akanji (On for Mahrez 61’) 7: Saw shot blocked on line by Jorginho although might have been ruled out for offside call early in move. PA -
Phil Foden (On for Grealish 77’) N/A. AP -
Kalvin Phillips (On for De Bruyne 87’) N/A. EPA
The coach who unleashed Haaland at Salzburg was Rose who, like Haaland, then left Austria for Germany and fairly quickly found himself the inheritor, for a second time, of club’s football’s most coveted young guarantor of goals.
Rose, 46, had moved from Salzburg to Borussia Monchengladbach in 2019. He was headhunted by Dortmund in 2021, overseeing Haaland’s last season in Germany.
It turned out to be the coach’s only Dortmund season but, back on the managerial market following his sacking, it did not take too long for him to be recalled to the Red Bull extended family. Leipzig-born Rose was appointed RB Leipzig’s manager in September to replace Domenico Tedesco.
Rose set about salvaging a poor start to the Champions League group phase, and pushed them into second place. Domestically, he has Leipzig in touch with what has become a genuinely tight race for the German title, four points off a trio of joint leaders.
He has striker Christopher Nkunku coming back to fitness after a long layoff, and Szoboszlai in form, supplementing his creativity with goals – three in his last four league outings. Leipzig are tight at the back, too. In the Bundesliga, only Bayern Munich and Union Berlin have conceded fewer goals.
Part of that is down to the coveted young centre-back, Josko Gvardiol. The 21-year-old Croatian has been fully briefed on how best to contain Haaland. “I’ve spoken to Gvardiol about Haaland, yes,” Szoboszlai told Kicker, “but I’m not going to give away what I told him.”
