First day of the league season: Vålerenga’s Gabriel Larsen Rajkovic comes on as a substitute in the closing stages and breaks Ødegaard’s record In the major European leagues, we’re almost at the final stages of the season – the last few months in which every team will be striving to achieve their respective goals – but there are some leagues that have only just begun. The Norwegian league kicked off just a couple of days ago, and after just one round, the first record of the season has already been set; in fact, the round hasn’t even been fully played yet, as of the eight scheduled matches, Sarpsborg v Bodø Glimt is still pending, postponed to a later date due to the visitors’ Champions League commitments (today at 6.45 pm they will play the second leg of the round of 16 against Sporting Lisbon following their 3-0 first-leg victory). Whilst we await the league debut of Hauge and his teammates, a 15-year-old made his debut during the Vålerenga v Sandefjord match: this is an all-time record in the Eliteserien, confirming once again the growth of Norwegian football. The player is Gabriel Larsen Rajkovic; he came on four minutes from time in the 1-0 victory secured by a goal from the Dane Carl Lange. At 15 years and 20 days, he became the youngest player to take to the pitch in the history of the Norwegian league, surpassing the record held by Martin Ødegaard, the current Arsenal captain who had previously played for Stromsgodset in Norway. Rajkovic is a winger who prefers to play on the left despite being left-footed, but he can also be deployed on the opposite flank and has even played as a centre-forward when required. A member of the Norwegian Under-15 national team, he also holds a Serbian passport due to his father’s origins but, for now, has chosen to play for the country where he was born; he is considered one of the world’s finest talents among players of his age. After the match, Vålerenga manager Geir Bakke commented on the 15-year-old’s debut: “I don’t want to say anything that might put further pressure on him, but I’ve never seen a greater talent at that age. And he’s already a Serie A player.”Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting