No stage too big - Haaland arrives in style at World Cup

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Highlight: Norway start World Cup with biggest ever win against Iraq

If there is a stage that is too big for Erling Haaland, we're yet to find it.

A hat-trick on his Champions League debut for RB Salzburg, a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut for Dortmund, a double on his Premier League debut for Manchester City, and now two goals on his World Cup finals debut, inspiring Norway to a 4-1 win over Iraq.

The 2026 World Cup might be six days in, but it felt as if it really began on Tuesday, with Kylian Mbappe inspiring France to a 3-1 victory over Senegal with two superb goals which made him Les Bleus' all-time leading scorer.

Little over an hour later, Haaland strode out for his first World Cup appearance and picked up the gauntlet thrown by Mbappe, nearly 18 months his senior, with a display full of desire, as well as the goals we have come to expect.

Norway manager Stale Solbakken said afterwards: "You can see he lived up to the occasion - it wasn't too big for him.

"I had a good feeling before the game, the last training session was very good. I had a feeling he would do it for us today."

Iraq head coach Graham Arnold added: "He's just an amazing number nine. We dealt with him quite well for a lot of the game [but] at the end of the day he's a top striker.

"Norway could shock a lot of people with the team they have. They could go a very long way."

Arnold spoke to Haaland after the final whistle and revealed: "I just said to him: 'You're one of the best number nines I've ever seen.' He's so strong, so quick and he's just lethal."

'It just had to be him'

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Haaland opens his World Cup account against Iraq

Haaland had fewer touches in the first half than any other player, just 11, but his influence could not have been greater as he slid in to stab home David Moller Wolfe's teasing cross from the left just before the half-hour - Norway's first World Cup finals goal in 10,220 days. The last, in 1998, came 759 days before he was born.

Speaking on BBC One, co-commentator Stephen Warnock said: "One thing you know is that guy Haaland will find it, he will do everything he can to get on the end of it. A simple finish for a man of his quality. It just had to be him."

After Iraq had briefly levelled with a towering Aymen Hussein header which had more than a touch of Haaland about it, the 25-year-old was rewarded for his commitment to chasing down a backpass, as keeper Jalal Hassan dallied, by charging an attempted clearance into the net.

It looked inevitable the 55th hat-trick in World Cup history would follow, but Haaland was denied by Jalal's block after pouncing on another loose pass late on while his looping header in added time was bundled over his own line by Hussein.