When Erling Haaland looks across the centre circle at kick-off on Wednesday night he may, at first, wonder whether he has glimpsed his own reflection. RB Leipzig have the option of fielding a young, 6ft 4in product of the Red Bull Salzburg machine with a prolific goalscoring record to accompany frightening physical and technical attributes. Benjamin Sesko is destined to become a household name and could press himself into the wider consciousness during Manchester City’s visit to Germany.
Sesko and Haaland were ships in the night when, four years ago, they briefly coincided on Salzburg’s books. While the Norwegian earned himself a move to Borussia Dortmund, his junior clubmate was scoring goals in the Uefa Youth League and taking notes on first-team games from the side. As far as Sesko remembers there was just one meeting between the pair when travelling to different matches from the local airport. “It was interesting to look at him because he’s the same height and some movements are the same,” says Sesko. “At this point you think ‘I want to be like him’ but when you start to play a little bit you want to be yourself. But it’s really good to have learned from him and in some ways it has helped me a lot.”
