The Manchester City striker Erling Haaland enjoyed a remarkable first season at Etihad Stadium, netting 52 goals in all competitions to help the team achieve a first-ever triple. However, the Norwegian lost out on the 2023 Ballon d’Or award, finishing second behind Argentina and Inter Miami star Lionel Messi, who led this nation to their third World Cup win in December 2022.
When questioned if Messi needed to retire for him to win the top individual awards, Haaland responded at a news conference on Tuesday: “Good question! I don’t know. I’ve won it all but I’m only 23, so I want to win it all again. Messi is the best that has ever played, maybe he has to retire for someone else to be regarded as the best.”
🇦🇷 “You scored lot of goals and Messi won the most important individual awards, does he have to retire in order for you to win that?”.
🇳🇴 Erling Haaland: “Good question! I don’t know. He’s won the World Cup…”.
“Messi is the 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝, I think”. pic.twitter.com/WOrmBaWfPM
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 5, 2024
In spite of not being able to match his spectacular goal-scoring performance from last season, the Norwegian still has a high chance of winning the Premier League Golden Boot after netting 18 goals in 22 league games. Messi, on the other hand, has contributed to four goals in three games so far in the new MLS 2024 season with Inter Miami.