THELO AASGAARD got a lesson in goalscoring from Erling Haaland — and a lesson about Glasgow from Kris Ajer!
Rangers’ Norwegian midfielder helped himself to four goals, three in the space of 12 minutes, in his country’s 11-1 thrashing of Moldova in midweek.
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But that wasn’t enough to top the international scoring charts, as Haaland helped himself to five goals in the crushing win.
Aasgaard, 23, said: “First of all, Erling’s a brilliant character. He’s not a senior player but he’s a good leader, a really big personality off the pitch.
“He’s a great example of a career progression and it’s clear he’s got a monster mentality.
“On the pitch it speaks for itself with Erling.
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“When we got the penalty he gave it to me so I could get a hat-trick. That speaks volumes about the kind of character he is.
“Every time I go away I always say I learn so much, not just from him but from all the players in the Norway squad.
“We have a really good team and there’s a lot of quality players. I enjoy going away and doing as well as I can.
“Now I’m at Rangers, when I was away this time I spoke with Kris Ajer about Glasgow, and he gave me a bit of insight of what it was like being on the other side of the city.
“But he said he loved Glasgow. He said that even when he came to Ibrox, it was electric and he enjoyed it.
“It was such an amazing international camp and to get some goals for my country was fantastic. It was quite emotional, to be honest. I had my family in the stand. They are proud of me anyway, but for them to see me put in a good performance like that was great.
“When I go away with Norway everyone stays in touch with each other and knows what we are all doing.
“They are my friends as well as team-mates.
“The thing that separates the ones at the top level from others is the speed of thought before they get the ball, being able to make decisions in split seconds.
“Those are the building blocks I want to add to my game and try to improve.
“It’s a confidence boost to come back after scoring a few goals, and I’ll try and take it into our game at Ibrox.
“Of course, I’m going to do my best in terms of getting goals for Rangers.
“I feel I’ve got better in the box in terms of finishing. Getting into the box is an element of my game that I’ve progressed really well.
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“That’s all I can do. I’m desperate to be a success at this club. I know a lot of the lads are a new group, but I believe we’ll work together well.
“Hearts is a massive game for us. We had a really solid performance against Celtic, and then quite a lot of the lads went away and did well over the international break.
“It was also an opportunity for the guys who were back here to train and gel together more. We know it’s a new squad, and some new faces arrived while I was away with Norway as well.
“So we’re really looking forward to the Hearts game.
“Winning would be a massive boost for us all.
“For any team it’s going to take a little while for all the relationships to form across the pitch.
“I’m really looking forward to building that side with some of the new players and continuing to do that with the lads who are here.”
One of those is frozen-out Nico Raskin, who’s again been left out of Russell Martin’s squad for Saturday’s visit of Hearts.
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But Aasgaard insists all the Gers stars who will be involved are fully focused on the job.
He added: “That’s something that’s between the manager and Nico. I’m just focusing on the game and I know everyone else is as well.
“The players just have to go into this match working together as a unit.”
Aasgaard — born in Liverpool — has had a slightly different upbringing to many footballers.
A highly-proficient musician, he also speaks three languages.
Aasgaard said: “I can speak English, Norwegian and some French too.
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“I come from a very musical family and played piano until I was 14. Although I was doing quite well at football, my parents always made sure I was also doing well in school.
“There are some skills that are transferable from music to football. My dad’s a musician so we have quite a lot in common.”
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