A model has become an internet sensation due to her remarkable likeness to football star Erling Haaland and is rooting for him to outplay England and lead Norway to a World Cup victory.
Anastasia Kostromitina, a 24-year-old from Russia, was initially hesitant about the resemblance but has since embraced the striking similarity.
Her influencer mother, Mariya, 56, choreographed a video in which Anastasia appeared, and it rapidly gained viral attention.
The entertaining clip starts with a question from her mother: ‘Is it just me, or does my daughter look like a star?’
In the video, Anastasia imitates Haaland’s distinct gestures, poses, and movements with precision.
Although the model is now ‘tired’ of her sudden fame, she is backing Manchester City’s perennial top scorer to sink England at the quarter-finals on Saturday.
‘Of course we’ll be cheering for Norway, and we’re hoping Erling Haaland goes all the way,’ Mariya said.
She called the forward – who has scored seven goals from four appearances so far – ‘an absolute powerhouse’.
Anastasia Kostromitina, 24, from Russia, has gone viral for being an Erling Haaland lookalike
Anastasia is not a big football fan, she said, but watches with her boyfriend and is ‘rooting for the Norwegian national team’
Moscow–based Anastasia ‘initially denied the resemblance, but eventually changed her mind’
In a viral video, the Russian model mimics Haaland’s gestures, poses, and movements
‘Now we have a personal stake in it, too. He already feels like one of our own!’
Moscow–based Anastasia, whose father served in the Soviet Red Army, ‘initially denied the resemblance, but eventually changed her mind,’ revealed Life news outlet.
‘To be honest, I went through all the stages of denial about it,’ said the model, whose video had four million–plus views.
‘And at first, I didn’t understand how I resembled him. Then I felt a little hurt.
‘But now I understand that being like such a great athlete, even if only physically, is actually quite good. And I decided to capitalise on that.’
She was not expecting it to be so popular.
‘My entire feed was filled with videos of girls who looked like him, and I thought, “Why not make one too?”
‘Especially since their videos were getting a lot of views.
Although the model is now ‘tired’ of her sudden fame, she is backing Manchester City’s perennial top scorer to sink England at the quarter-finals on Saturday
‘And at first, I didn’t understand how I resembled him. Then I felt a little hurt. But now I understand that being like such a great athlete, even if only physically, is actually quite good,’ she said
Anastasia said she had receive some hurtful comments too, which is when she realised that the video was ‘definitely trending’
Anastasia recreated one of Haaland’s iconic kicks in her viral video that has been seen by more than four million people
Anastasia hopes the attention from the video will help her book more shoots in Moscow where she is based
‘I was hoping, of course, that my version would get a lot of likes, but I never expected this kind of attention.’
Anastasia says there was online bile, too: ‘As soon as the haters started appearing in the comments, I realised the video was definitely trending.
‘But there are way more positive comments. That’s nice.
‘The haters don’t bother me. They only add to my following.
‘I work as a model in Moscow, so I hope brands and photographers will notice me and I’ll get a lot of shoots.’
She is not a big football fan, she said, but watches with her boyfriend and is ‘rooting for the Norwegian national team’.
She is unsure about a future photoshoot with Haaland but ‘would be happy to take a selfie with him’.