Ben Cabango emerges from Norway win with praise – and Erling Haaland’s shirt

Ben Cabango left Wales’ win over Norway with Erling Haaland’s shirt as a prized souvenir – and then revealed the Manchester City striker did not take his jersey.

Swansea defender Cabango produced the best performance of his international career as Wales upset the World Cup finalists 2-1 in Nations League A on Thursday night.

Haaland had few chances to add to his 65 Norway goals on his 58th appearance as Cabango and centre-back partner Ben Davies kept the prolific Norwegian quiet.

Cabango said: “I did grab it (Haaland’s shirt) after the game. He was just there so I thought I’d ask. Why not?”

Asked what Haaland said to him, Cabango replied: “Nothing really. He just gave me the shirt, but he didn’t take mine.”

It has been a remarkable week for 26-year-old Cabango, who has never played in the Premier League but made nearly 300 appearances for Swansea.

Cabango’s last game before the international break was at Lincoln’s modest ProAmpac Stadium in front of just 10,000 spectactors, but he has since marked Cristiano Ronaldo and Haaland on Wales duty and kept both scoreless.

“It is surreal to play against Ronaldo and Haaland in the same camp,” said Cabango.

“But it’s definitely where you want to be, stay around that for as long as possible.

“You learn a lot playing against these players. You’ve got to be concentrated throughout the game and you can’t switch off at any moment.

“That probably brings out the best side of me and it’s been good.

“I enjoy that side of the game. If the ball’s there to be won, I’m going to try and win it 100 per cent of the time.”

Wales remain bottom of Group A4 despite claiming their first top-tier Nations League win at the ninth attempt.

But they are now level on three points with Denmark and Norway and in the race for second place and boosting their seeding for Euro 2028.

Portugal top the group halfway through the campaign with a 100 per cent record from three games.

Wales next host Denmark on Sunday, seeking to avenge last weekend’s 2-0 defeat in Copenhagen.

Cabango said: “We spoke about that performance. We needed to bounce back from the last game and I felt we all did that as a collective.”

Oscar Bobb gave Norway an early lead, but Daniel James equalised and Neco Williams dispatched a fine free-kick at the start of the second half after Torbjorn Heggem had been sent off.

Norway head to Portugal on the back of consecutive defeats hoping Haaland produces far more after his listless performance in Cardiff.

Captain Martin Odegaard said: “He had a few big chances and if he scores one or two of them then I don’t think anyone says anything.

“That’s the life of a striker. I’m sure he will score in the next game.

“Wales played the game exactly like we expected. They want to play out from the back, they are quite physical and aggressive.

“After the (James) goal the game changed a bit. Then obviously the red card changed the game completely.”