Erling Haaland had not pulled on a Norway shirt since the summer, when England knocked his country out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage. Whatever he did with the weeks in between, it clearly agreed with him. He scored twice in Oslo on Thursday night as Norway opened their Nations League campaign with a 3-2 win over Denmark, and the second of them settled a game that had spent an hour threatening to get away from the hosts.
Three goals in eleven minutes
The opening stages were frantic in a way that neither coach will have planned for. Oscar Bobb, now at Fulham, broke the deadlock after Martin Odegaard slid a pass into him, and the finish was a delicate one, curled into the far corner rather than smashed. Four minutes later Haaland made it two. Antonio Nusa did the hard part, jinking his way into the box before rolling the ball across, and Haaland's first-time strike went past Filip Jorgensen before the goalkeeper had properly set himself.
Denmark answered almost immediately. Mikkel Damsgaard, the Brentford midfielder, stood over a free-kick 25 yards out and bent it beyond the wall. Three goals inside eleven minutes, and the crowd barely had time to sit back down between them.
Hojlund pulls Denmark level
The game then settled, and Denmark grew into it. On the hour Rasmus Hojlund, who spent two years at Manchester United before moving on, brought the visitors level and for a while Norway looked like a side that had spent all its energy in the first quarter of an hour. That lasted until the 74th minute, when a corner routine worked exactly as it was drawn up and dropped the ball onto Haaland inside the box. He hammered it. There was no third Danish reply.
A nervy finish, and top spot
Norway made it harder than they needed to at the end. Substitute David Moller Wolfe collected a second yellow card in stoppage time, which left the hosts holding on a man short, but Denmark could not find a way through. The result puts Norway top of League A Group 4 after one round, with Portugal's 1-0 win over Wales the other result in the section. Haaland now has nine goals in his last six appearances for club and country, which is the sort of run that tends to make his opponents' team meetings longer than usual.
Match facts: Norway 3-2 Denmark, Uefa Nations League League A Group 4, Oslo, Thursday 24 September 2026. Norway scorers: Oscar Bobb, Erling Haaland (2, second on 74 minutes). Denmark scorers: Mikkel Damsgaard, Rasmus Hojlund (on the hour). David Moller Wolfe sent off for Norway in stoppage time. Portugal beat Wales 1-0 in the group's other fixture.
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