As the new European club champions readied themselves to parade all their prizes through Manchester, they were encouraged to ask: which silverware comes next?
Some this summer, most likely. There’s the English Community Shield and, as Uefa Champions League winners, European Super Cup and Club World Cup assignments await Manchester City in August and December. There’s an expectation, too, that at least one City player will be on the podium for the Ballon d’Or.
The award, football’s most prestigious individual honour, will be handed over in Paris in late October, its voters, drawn from the media of the 100 top-ranked Fifa nations, required to take into consideration the entire 2022-23 season.
A widespread assumption, since December, was that Lionel Messi, who captained Argentina to victory at the World Cup, would be a shoo-in for the eighth Ballon d’Or of his career.
But City’s rare treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup will be reflected strongly in the voting, and probably strongest through their figurehead goalscorer, Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian may have had a relatively quiet night in Istanbul during Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Inter Milan that sealed City’s first European Cup, but his impact in his first season in England is hard to over-emphasise.
His 36 Premier League goals, in 35 games, have already won him the European Golden Shoe, the prize given annually to the most prolific marksman in league football across the continent.
He finished well ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane (30 goals) and of the top scorers in France’s Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (29), Italy’s Serie A, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen (26) and Spain’s La Liga, Robert Lewandowski (23) of Barcelona.
Haaland finished his personal Champions League run goalless through City’s semi-final against Real Madrid and the final, but was still well clear of Mbappe’s eight PSG goals for the campaign. Haaland has 12 from his 11 games. That unmatched tally included the five he struck within 35 minutes against RB Leipzig in the second leg of City’s last-16 tie.
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Erling Haaland celebrates scoring Manchester City's sixth goal - and his fifth - in the 7-0 Champions League round of 16 second leg win against RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium on March 14, 2023. PA -
Haaland shakes hands with City manager Pep Guardiola as he leaves the pitch after being substituted. AFP -
Kevin De Bruyne celebrates scoring City's seventh goal. PA -
Haaland celebrates scoring the fifth goal with John Stones. AFP -
Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring City' fifth goal and his fourth. AP -
Haaland celebrates scoring the fifth goal. Reuters -
Ilkay Gundogan with Jack Grealish after scoring City's fourth goal. PA -
Haaland scores City's third goal of the game and his hat-trick. PA -
Haaland celebrates scoring City's second goal. Reuters -
Haaland scores City's second goal. Action Images -
Erling Haaland celebrates scoring the second goal. Reuters -
Haaland celebrates scoring City's second goal with Bernardo Silva. Reuters -
Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring City's first goal from the penalty spot. Getty -
Erling Haaland scores with a penalty for City's opening goal. Getty -
City's Erling Haaland in action with Leipzig's Janis Blaswich. Reuters -
Kevin De Bruyne is challenged by David Raum. Getty -
City manager Pep Guardiola shouts instructions. Getty
In a season like 2021-22, that sort of influence would have been enough to put a striker with several medals right at the top of the Ballon d’Or reckoning. The current holder of the prize, Karim Benzema, won his by a huge margin – he collected 356 more points in the voting than second-placed Sadio Mane – after leading Real Madrid to a Champions League and Liga double and scoring 44 goals across club competitions. Haaland finished his treble season with City on 52 goals all told.
But the period under consideration for the 67th Ballon d’Or is unique. It featured a winter World Cup, a tournament that left as its abiding image the trophy being lifted by the outstanding footballer of the 21st century, Messi.
The Argentinian may then have said farewell to what is likely to be his last ever season in Europe being booed by home fans at PSG, who he is leaving to join MLS club Inter Miami, but his success with his national team defined his last nine months.
The Messi factor will weigh heavily in the voting. And World Cups count for a great deal. Luka Modric won the 2018 award partly on the basis of Croatia reaching the final that year; he had also collected a third successive Champions League title with Real Madrid.
Haaland has plenty of time ahead to amass several Ballons d’Or.
“Don’t forget I’m only 22,” he told CBS after the Champions League final. The last time a footballer under the age of 23 was handed a Ballon d’Or was in January 2011. That was Messi, receiving the second of his seven, and already well into a 10-year run when the prize only switched between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Next season’s Champions League will draw down the curtain on their era. For the first time in 21 years, the competition will begin with neither Ronaldo nor Messi participating.
On the list of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the European Cup, the top duo – Ronaldo with 140, Messi 129 – are now inactive in it. Benzema, no longer at Madrid but at Al Ittihad, will not be adding to his 90 career goals in the Champions League either, nor will Zlatan Ibrahimovic, retired as of last month, be pushing up his tally of 48.
Haaland, who had just celebrated his first birthday when Ibrahimovic made his Champions League debut and just turned two when Ronaldo did, has the route clear to pass many landmarks left by their generation. He is on 35 Champions League goals already, has a first Gold Shoe waiting to be presented to him and, fitness permitting, a Ballon d’Or somewhere on the near horizon.
