Erling Haaland couldn't stop smiling after reuniting with special guest at RB Leipzig game

Erling Haaland was reunited with former teammate Andrea Norheim following Wednesday night's Champions League clash between Manchester City and RB Leipzig.

Haaland, who scored the winning goal in City's 3-2 victory on Wednesday night, bumped into childhood friend Norheim as he made his way towards the Red Bull Arena dressing room at full-time.

Before making their name in the game, Haaland and Norheim grew up together in the small Norwegian town of Bryne.

In fact, from the ages of five to 16, they played alongside each other in the youth set-up at Bryne FK, with Norheim being credited with playing a huge role in Haaland's on-pitch development.

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Shortly after Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund in 2020, German newspaper BILD published an article headlined ‘Haaland learned football from a girl’, a claim Andrea was quick to play down.

“I certainly don’t want to brag that I was the one who taught him how to play football. We trained together for many years, but that’s it," she said, as per Copa 90.

“He was very small, but he has always been a good player and a goal-scoring striker. He was a year younger than the rest of us, but was moved up. He showed why he was good enough for that.”

As we all know, Haaland has gone on to become one of the world's best strikers, breaking records with Borussia Dortmund before securing a move to Manchester City.

From scoring the most goals in a single Premier League season (36) to becoming Norway's all-time leading goalscorer, it has been quite a remarkable rise for the 26-year-old striker.

Norheim, meanwhile, left Norway to join eight-time Champions League winners Lyon in 2016, when she was just 17 years old.

The defender went on to win trophies at Swedish giants with Pitea IF before enjoying spells at HB Køge, Sporting Lisbon and Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, where she currently plays.

Speaking about their reunion after Wednesday's game, Norheim confirmed they hadn't seen each other for eight years before their meeting in Germany.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other, maybe eight years. But when I spoke to him, he recognised me immediately," she told BILD.

She added: "It was fun talking to him. For me, he was still exactly the same as when we were younger. It's really cool that we're both here now. It was nice to see him play again."