Theodore Bjorn did not take part in Real Madrid's celebrations.
That very night, Theodore boarded a flight back to Norway with the Champions League medal he had just won, along with the top scorer trophy and the best player award.
Of course, his club teammate Ødegaard traveled with him as well.
In ten days, Norway would play their first match of the European Championship, so time was extremely tight.
The next day, at eight o'clock in the morning, Theodore and Ødegaard appeared on the training pitch wearing Norway national team shirts, genuinely shocking the rest of their Norwegian teammates.
Especially Haaland.
He rushed in front of Theodore immediately and looked his good friend up and down.
"Theodore, are you serious? Weren't you still in Portugal playing the Champions League final yesterday? How are you already with the national team today?"
Before Theodore could speak, Ødegaard complained from the side, "Please. If Theodore doesn't come, can we even get out of the group?"
Then Ødegaard sighed and continued complaining.
"Group F is a damn group of death. Ugh, our luck is awful. How did we even get drawn into this group?"
Haaland, however, had a pretty good mentality.
He joked with Ødegaard and Theodore, "So what? I believe we can definitely qualify from the group. France are only a little stronger. Germany are already past it, and they're in the middle of a transition right now. Don't forget, I play in the Bundesliga. I'm too familiar with Germany."
"What about Portugal?" Theodore suddenly asked Haaland.
"Mm… Portugal are indeed pretty strong," Haaland said after thinking for a moment. "If nothing unexpected happens, we'll probably have to fight Portugal for second place in the group. Even if we don't get second, third place can still qualify."
Clearly, Haaland had already studied the European Championship rules very thoroughly during this period.
Before long, Norway head coach Lars Lagerbäck and his coaching team also arrived at the training pitch.
Lagerbäck first greeted Theodore and Ødegaard briefly, then had the players begin their daily training.
...
On June 16, Norway would face the defending European champions, Portugal.
So during this period, Lagerbäck needed to confirm his main lineup as much as possible.
After the morning's routine training ended, Lagerbäck divided all the Norwegian players into Team A and Team B for an internal training match.
He used this method to check the players' condition.
In this internal match, Theodore did not play. Instead, he watched from the bench.
After all, as the current number one star in world football and the newly crowned Ballon d'Or winner, Theodore no longer needed to prove his strength through a training match.
He was definitely a starter for Norway, and in the truest sense, he was their absolute attacking core.
It took Lagerbäck almost three days before he finally confirmed the starting lineup.
After that came tactical training.
Because Norway had been drawn into the group of death, their other three opponents were Germany, Portugal, and France.
Germany were the 2014 World Cup champions, France were the 2018 World Cup champions, and Portugal were the 2016 European champions.
On top of that, all three teams had plenty of major stars.
With Norway's current strength, qualifying smoothly from this group would be extremely difficult.
It seemed their only realistic route into the knockout stage was through one of the best third-place spots.
Before anyone realized it, time had reached June 12.
A little past seven in the evening, Norway's players did not hold evening training.
Instead, everyone went to the media room at the training base to watch the European Championship opening ceremony and the first match.
It was worth mentioning that although this European Championship was being held in 2021, in name, it was still Euro 2020.
Also, this tournament did not have a single host country. Instead, it was being hosted across eleven European cities.
Norway's opening match against Portugal would be played at the Puskás Aréna in Hungary.
The opening match, meanwhile, was being held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
In that match, although Italy were officially listed as the away team, they were essentially playing at home.
In the 52nd minute, Turkey player Demiral's own goal helped Italy take the lead.
After that, Italian forward Immobile scored another goal, expanding the score to 2–0.
In the 78th minute, Immobile assisted Insigne to score again.
In the end, Italy defeated Turkey 3–0.
After watching the opening match of the European Championship, Norway head coach Lagerbäck held a small meeting with his players.
"You have just watched the first match of the Euros," Lagerbäck said. "Four days from now, it will be our turn to step onto the pitch. And our opponent will be the defending champions, Portugal."
He looked around at the players and continued, "I believe all of you understand Portugal's strength very well. In their front line, they have the strongest forward on this planet, Cristiano Ronaldo."
Then Lagerbäck's tone became firmer.
"You can swap shirts with Ronaldo after the match, but during the match, I hope every one of you fights for the flag on your chest. We must fight for Norway."
"Tomorrow, we will head to Budapest. I hope that over these next few days, you can adjust your mentality and your condition properly. In this European Championship, we have only one mission: let Norway shine at the peak of Europe."
After Lagerbäck finished speaking, every Norway player gave him warm applause.
Almost every player in the Norway national team had their morale ignited by Lagerbäck.
The next day, at seven o'clock in the morning, all the Norway national team players boarded the flight to Hungary.
A little past two in the afternoon, the moment Norway's players walked out of the airport, they were immediately surrounded by a large number of fans.
It was worth mentioning that most of these fans were not Norwegians, but Hungarians. And the shirts they wore were all Real Madrid's number ten.
Clearly, they had come for Theodore.
Sure enough, Theodore was surrounded by Hungarian fans. Hundreds of fans shouted his name wildly.
This was Theodore's influence.
Now, whenever Theodore appeared in any European country, he would cause a commotion.
"Wow. Theodore really is popular," Haaland could not help sighing.
"If you can score sixty goals and provide thirty assists in one season, then win the Ballon d'Or, you can be this popular too," Ødegaard said.
Those words instantly made Haaland feel pressure.
As the number of fans continued to increase, Norway's team leader had no choice but to rely on airport security to control the excited crowd.
Only then was Theodore able to board the bus heading to the hotel.
A little past five in the evening, Norway held their first training session on a football pitch not far from the hotel.
However, after training ended, leaving the venue became a problem for Theodore.
By then, a large number of fans and media had already gathered outside the training ground.
The fans wanted Theodore's autograph and photos, while the media wanted an exclusive interview with him.