Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola revealed that Erling Haaland was in jovial mood during City’s first training session since the Ballon d’or ceremony that saw the 23-year-old come second to World Cup winner Lionel Messi.
The Norwegian won a treble and scooped the English Golden Boot last term in Man City’s record making season, and in his debut campaign in England, but he watched Messi win his record-extending eighth Ballon d’or on Monday as he came second.
Asked about how his lethal striker took the outcome, Guardiola who was addressing the media ahead of City’s game against Bournemouth on Saturday said: “I would say that I saw him so happy to be a contender, close to Messi and Mbappe and the rest of the players.
“Erling has all his career ahead of him, so he has to continue winning and say, ‘OK, maybe next season, I can be there.’
“This has to be his target but he was really pleased to be there and he seemed really well when he came back.”
Haaland scored 56 goals across all competitions last season. He broke multiple Premier League records, including most goals scored in a season (35), the quickest individual to score two, three, four and five hat-tricks, and the first in league history to score hat-tricks in three consecutive home games.
Added to the Premier League Golden Boot, the striker also won the European Golden Shoe and the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring exploits. He was also named UEFA Men’s Player of the Year.
This was the first time Haaland was finishing in the podium positions for the Ballon d’or. He came second ahead of Kylian Mbappe who was a World Cup losing finalist in Qatar.
Haaland currently leads the goalscoring charts in the Premier League with 11 goals including two he scored against City rivals Manchester United last weekend in the Manchester Derby.
