Haaland vs Odegaard is "special" - says the PL star who knows them best

Sander Berge claims it was weird first seeing his close pals Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard slug it out. Now he says it’s just fun.

Haaland and Odegaard will clash at the Etihad on Sunday when Manchester City face Arsenal in a potential title decider. Berge has known Odegaard since they first played for Norway’s under-age teams at 15 and Haaland for the last five years.

He spends time with them away from football and says he initially had to get his head round the fact his friends are starring for two of the world’s biggest clubs. He is well used to it now and, like everyone else, can’t wait to see what happens on Sunday.

“It’s special for me because when I was growing up, who would you watch from Norway?” said the Burnley midfielder. “Now two of my closest mates are two of the absolute biggest players with two of the best teams in the world.

“It’s been a little bit strange because there they are, going up against each other, fighting for their club teams and then they are together with the national team.

“Now everybody’s a little bit more adjusted to it with Erling scoring all these goals for Manchester City and Martin scoring his goals and being captain of Arsenal. Everybody’s more used to it now and it’s just fun watching them from the side.”

Berge, 26, sees Haaland, who has 32 goals this season for City and Norway, despite missing almost two months through injury, every week and they hang out at each other’s house. He joked the striker was like his “younger brother” when he scored his first Champions League hat-trick for Red Bull Salzburg in 2019 at 19 and excitedly insisted on showing him his matchball, even though he was in doping.

“We clicked as mates right away and when I was with Genk and he was at Salzburg, they