Stan Collymore believes that Andy Robertson would’ve been ‘annoyed’ by the hype surrounding Erling Haaland prior to the Euro 2024 qualifier between Norway and Scotland on Saturday.
While the Manchester City hotshot had a phenomenal season for his club as they won the treble, the Liverpool defender got a modicum of revenge as his nation came from behind to triumph in Oslo at the weekend.
The former Reds striker has said that the 29-year-old would’ve hated the attention being heaped on the Norwegian predator prior to the game and duly delivered a ‘world-class’ performance in captaining his nation to victory.
Speaking to CaughtOffside, Collymore said: “Andy Robertson was exceptional, absolutely world-class.
“The game was built up in a way that meant Erling Haaland was the centre of attention. It was almost like there was no way Norway were going to lose while Haaland was on the pitch and that would have annoyed Robertson like you wouldn’t believe.
“Of course, Haaland is going to get a lot of attention, he’s his country’s best player and he’s just won the treble with Manchester City, but Robertson has won it all too. He’s not a nobody, he’s also playing for one of the biggest clubs in Europe and is arguably one of, if not the, best in the world in his position.”
Although Haaland scored from the penalty spot on Saturday, he was largely kept very quiet by Robertson and the Scotland defence.
As per Sofascore, the Man City marksman didn’t have any other shots in the game and was restricted to a mere 17 touches and seven accurate passes. Meanwhile, the Liverpool left-back won five of his seven duels, completed all three dribble attempts and made three interceptions and one tackle.
Therefore, it’s easy to see why Collymore was so effusive in his praise of the Scotsman’s performance in Oslo as his nation took command of their qualifying group, in which they have an eight-point advantage over Norway with both having three matches played.
The former Reds striker is also right to talk up what Robertson has achieved at Anfield, winning seven trophies (including the Premier League and Champions League) and racking up 71 goal contributions in 267 appearances across six years at the club (Transfermarkt).
His status as one of the world’s best left-backs is underlined by him ranking fourth in a FourFourTwo list among players in that position and being previously hailed as its top exponent by one of his predecessors at Liverpool in Jose Enrique (Sky Sports).
Judging by Saturday’s performance and result, our number 26 appeared to use any motivation to get one over on Haaland in the best way possible.