Svegaarden has been covering the Norwegian national team for the past three decades for VG – one of the country’s most popular tabloids.
The Oslo-based writer has also been a City fan all his life.
By Haaland’s own lofty standards, he will have been frustrated by a return of one goal in six games for City going into the break.
He is still the Blues’ top scorer this season with eight goals and has bagged an incredible 60 in 65 matches so far for City.
But he went into the EURO 2024 qualifiers hoping to find the net for Norway – and, of course, he delivered, claiming a brace in their trip to Cyprus.
His first was a spectacular angled volley – a rocket of a shot – and his second a close range header as Norway secured a 3-1 win away to Cyprus.
“The first thing I did was text Alfie Haaland to say that you can’t believe how powerful his first goal was,” said Svegaarden.
“It must have been more than 100km per hour in speed and almost burst the net!
“The second was a typical Erling goal, moving one way, then the other to find space and then heading home from close in.
“That took him to 27 goals in 27 games for Norway, but then came the Spain game and though he had a couple of chances they made it very difficult, and the opportunities were few and far between.
“Overall, he did really well, and it wasn’t his fault that Norway couldn’t beat Spain, but the players were quite down after the game and it might take a few days to get that out of their system.
“On a positive, Erling is now just six goals behind the national team’s all-time top goal-scorer.
“Jørgen Juve has 33 and that record has stood since 1937, so it will be quite an achievement when he moves past that number.
“I think it will be good for City that he scored those goals during the international break.”
Oscar Bobb also won his first caps for the national team – a substitute appearance against Cyprus and full debut against Spain - Svegaarden added: “There is a lot of interest in Oscar in Norway and overall, I think he did quite well.
“He’s a fantastic guy and he’s going to be a great asset to City and the national team.”
