Norway vs Serbia
Group B4 has the tightest battle at the top in the entire UEFA Nations League, and it will go down to the wire as Norway and Serbia square off in the final round with promotion to League A on the line.
The two sides are now tied at 10 points after Norway fell to Slovenia, while the Serbs smashed Sweden 4-1 thanks to an Aleksandar Mitrovic hat-trick.
Mitrovic, who is having a brilliant start to the Premier League season with Fulham, will now look to outduel one of Europe’s top marksmen in Norway’s Erling Haaland and lead the Serbs to League A for the first time.
Read on below as SBOTOP previews this epic showdown between two of Europe’s most in-form strikers.
Talking Points
Haaland still in red-hot form but needs help
Norway missed out on their chance to clinch top spot in Group B4 as they suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Slovenia.
Erling Haaland had given the Norwegians the lead two minutes after half-time as he pounced on an error by a Slovenian defender. It was Haaland’s sixth goal of the Nations League, which leads all scorers, and his 21st international goal in 22 caps.
The 22-year-old, who is also in sizzling form with Premier League champions Manchester City, has now scored in each of his last seven games for club and country.
But it was young Benjamin Sesko who produced the more impressive UEFA Nations League 2022 highlights as he set up Slovenia’s equaliser then scored the winning goal nine minutes from time.
Norway and Serbia are tied at 10 points, but the Norwegians remain top of Group B4 by virtue of their 1-0 win over Serbia in Belgrade, so all they need is a draw to gain promotion to League A.
Norway coach Stale Solbakken will be disappointed with his side’s defending; after a strong start where they conceded just once in three games, Norway have now given up two goals in back-to-back Nations League matches.
Meanwhile, Norway will be disappointed they couldn’t create enough good goalscoring opportunities despite their dynamic duo of Haaland and Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, who was taken off 20 minutes from time.
The Norwegians will need a much better game from their skipper Odegaard, who is Haaland’s primary source of service in the side.
Mitrovic gives Serbia hope
Serbia made sure the battle for top spot in Group B4 would come down to the very last game as they smashed Sweden 4-1.
After going down early, Serbia stormed back through star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who scored a hat-trick. The 28-year-old, who is off to a fine start for Fulham in the Premier League (six goals, tied for second in the league) and led UEFA World Cup qualifying with eight goals, is now just one goal behind Haaland in the Nations League goalscoring charts with five.
The Serbs are absolutely stacked with attacking options, which makes them such a dangerous opponent. Apart from Mitrovic, they also have Juventus duo of Dusan Vlahovic and Filip Kostic, as well as Ajax playmaker Dusan Tadic, Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Should Serbia reach the finals, do not underestimate their UEFA Nations League 2022 odds of winning the competition.
Coach Dragan Stoijkovic was finally able to start his star striker duo of Mitrovic and Vlahovic together for the first time in the Nations League, and he will likely stick with those two to provide additional firepower against Norway.
However, Serbia are not all that solid when it comes to defending, so they could have their hands full with Haaland.
History
This will be just the fourth-ever meeting between Norway and Serbia. Both sides have won a game apiece, with a draw.
Norway’s win came in their first Nations League matchup as Haaland struck to grab the victory in Belgrade.
Norway and Serbia also met in a dramatic Euro 2020 play-off. Serbia thought they had gotten a late winner through Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in the 81st minute, but Norway equalised two minutes from time to force extra-time. Milinkovic-Savic then struck again in the 102nd minute to see the Serbs through to the play-off final.
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