Norway’s national football team was heading into another match against Portugal Sunday night, after losing to Portugal at home in Oslo last weekend and then to Wales in Cardiff. The tightly-packed Nations League matches have been exhausting for all involved.
Head coach Ståle Solbakken confirmed that Norway would play with a new goalkeeper, Egil Selvik, after Ørjan Nyland made some errors both against Portugal and Wales. Norway lost to Wales by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night, and suffered after player Torbjørn Heggem was penalized and kicked out of the match, leaving Norway with just 10 players on the field.
Norway was keen to seek revenge in Portugal, where Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, has been bitter after what he viewed as a lack of respect after not getting to play in the Nations League matches against Norway and Denmark. The drama around the 41-year-old Ronaldo played out in both Oslo and Copenhagen, when both Norway and Denmark were deemed too challenging.
“The plan was that Ronaldo would play the last half-hour against Norway,” wrote sports commentator Daniel Røed-Johansen in newspaper Aftenposten heading into the weekend. “But Norway was too good.” Ronaldo headed straight for the locker room in protest when the match at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadium ended, without traditionally thanking even all the Portuguese fans who had traveled to Oslo.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
