Only hours after the biggest financial scandal in English league history erupted, the fallout reached the Norwegian national team's camp. Its first victim was the star Erling Haaland.
In a surprise move that lays bare the scale of concern within the Norwegian Football Federation, officials scrapped the press conference scheduled for Haaland on Saturday. The aim was clear: shield him from a flood of awkward questions about the fate of his club Manchester City.
The Athletic dropped the bombshell on Friday afternoon, revealing that an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of 114 charges out of 115 relating to systematic breaches of the financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018. TV2 sports commentator Mina Finstad Berg said the ruling "would be like an earthquake if it is true that they were found guilty on all charges except one".
A message and its opposite within hours
According to what the Norwegian channel TV2 learned, the Norwegian federation is now doing everything it can to keep Haaland away from any questions on the thorny subject.
Earlier on Friday, the federation's media director Morten Skjønsberg sent an official note to the media confirming that Haaland and national team coach Ståle Solbakken would hold a joint press conference on Saturday.
By Friday evening, everything had flipped. A brief counter-message arrived from the federation: "We are making adjustments to the press conference scheduled for tomorrow. Solbakken, Ørsnes and Sørloth will be on the ground floor".
Gone from the list entirely was Haaland's name, replaced by two team-mates, Ørsnes and Sørloth. The instruction was plain: keep the star away from the media until the picture becomes clearer.
The decision comes even as Manchester City confirmed they would appeal the ruling, with proceedings still ongoing. The Norwegian federation simply refused to gamble by putting their first-choice striker in front of questions he currently cannot answer.