Northern Ireland v Bulgaria

“There aren’t too many strikers out there at the moment who are better,” he replies. The striker in question? The powerful and prolific Borussia Dortmund hitman Erling Haaland who scored twice for Norway in a thumping 5-1 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast back in September. Haaland, who has bagged a remarkable 49 goals in 49 games for Dortmund, also led the line in a 1-0 win in the return UEFA Nations League fixture in Oslo the following month. “I could see how good Haaland was from watching him play in the Champions League on TV, but you never know just how good someone is until you come up against them,” said Ballard. “What shocked me most about him was his mentality and how determined and aggressive he was in the two games I faced him. That sort of set a standard for me. “Seeing that mentality up close inspires you to try and bring the same level of competitiveness into every game. There’s no better way to learn than playing against the best.” While Northern Ireland are outsiders to reach the 2022 World Cup final tournament in Qatar, Ballard is eager for Ian Baraclough’s men to stay in contention heading into the final stages of their European Qualifying Group C campaign. “It is a tough group, but we have a confident squad of players,” he said. “We know we’ll have to show the same characteristics that got Northern Ireland to UEFA Euro 2016 in France. We’ll have to be extremely hard working and hard to beat. “The World Cup is a massive tournament and the determination and confidence is there to go and get the results we need to stay in the hunt for qualification.” And Ballard, who won his sixth cap for Northern Ireland in the 2-1 defeat to USA on Sunday, is confident the team can get their Group C campaign back on track against Bulgaria tonight following the 2-0 defeat to the Italians in their group opener last week.

DANIEL BALLARD

Position Centre Back Date Of Birth 22.09.1999 Place Of Birth Stevenage

CENTRE BACK

Height 187cm Weight 75kg

CLUB RECORD

26

SQUAD NO

CLUBS Arsenal

0 1

Swindon Town (loan) Blackpool (loan)

15

INTERNATIONAL RECORD

4

SQUAD NO

Debut 04.09.20 v Romania (A) Drew 1-1 Northern Ireland U21

Caps 6 Goals 0

4

39

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