England’s quarter-final against Norway is a star-studded affair, and Ezri Konsa thinks two players in particular are on course for greatness.
Obviously, the Norway star in question is Erling Haaland. He has been sublime over the course of this tournament, and really ever since he arrived in the Premier League.
According to Konsa, this World Cup clash could birth a historic rivalry between Haaland and his close friend, Jude Bellingham.
Haaland (25) and Bellingham (23) are already world-class players, but Konsa sees it going further than that. He suggests this could be the modern version of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ezri Konsa explains bold Bellingham and Haaland prediction
Nobody is saying the two young superstars are on the level of Messi and Ronaldo. That’s pretty much impossible.
What the England centre-back is suggesting is that they are young enough, and good enough, to have a similarly storied rivalry at the top of the game.
Talking to ITV Sport, he was asked whether this could be the new edition of that famous debate.
He responded: “It very well could be. You’ve got Lamine Yamal coming up as well, who is another top, top, top player.
“So in 15 years’ time, I’ll probably be sitting on my sofa watching Haaland or Jude being one of the two GOATs of world football.”
Konsa clearly rates these two at the highest level, as well as 18-year-old Yamal, who looks destined to be in and around best-in-the-world conversations for the foreseeable future.
Maybe the Messi-Ronaldo comparison was pushed on him by the interviewer somewhat, but he evidently sees Haaland and Bellingham dominating the sport as a real possibility.
The two are known to be close friends from their time together at Borussia Dortmund, and that is visible every time they face off at club level. But even Haaland won’t have expected to be seeing him in a World Cup quarter-final, playing for a country that hadn’t been to the tournament in 28 years.
Playing for two of the biggest clubs in the world, we will no doubt see more chapters of this rivalry — the scoreboard has already started running.
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