Erling Haaland’s rise to the summit of club football has been meteoric. The Norwegian started out as a child prodigy in Norway, developing his goalscoring abilities under former United striker and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. As recently as 2018, Haaland was playing in Molde, and just five years later, he’s a treble-winner with Manchester City in a season where he scored over 50 goals.
The 23-year-old forward is expected to continue his goalscoring run for Manchester City in the upcoming campaign, causing all sorts of problems for opposition players in domestic competitions and Europe. He was pivotal in Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning venture; however, in his own eyes, the most valuable player was someone else.
Haaland nominates Rodri as MVP at Manchester City
Manchester City balled out last season, leapfrogging Arsenal to win the Premier League title while also beating Manchester United and Inter Milan in the FA Cup and Champions League finals, respectively. That was the best of Manchester City in the club’s history.
Although they didn’t gain over 100 points in the Premier League as they did in that record-breaking season under Guardiola, City showed resilience last season and has the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland to thank for it.
Despite having a star-studded squad, Erling Haaland has singled out Rodri as the team’s most valuable player in a recent interview with William Hill. Speaking of Rodri’s importance, Haaland said, “There were other teammates of mine who could have easily won it, but if you watch every game, you have Rodri, who has been solid all season and is maybe a bit in camouflage because he is in the midfield bringing everyone together.
Rodri played a huge role in City’s treble-winning campaign last season. A man not known for his goalscoring ability scored City’s only goal in the UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan.
City will have to strengthen their midfield for next season after losing key players Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez to Barcelona and Al-Ahli, respectively. City may also part ways with Kyle Walker, who draws interest from Bayern Munich, and Bernardo Silva, who is linked with a move to PSG.
How many UCL trophies does Manchester City have?
Manchester City spent almost two decades in the shadow of Manchester City since the ‘90s before finally breaking the monopoly in 2011 when Aguero infamously scored a last-minute goal against QPR to claim the team’s first Premier League title since 1968. Pep Guardiola’s era at Manchester City has brought more success to the club than under any other manager.
🗣️ "Manchester City are still alive here… Balotelli… AGUEROOOOOOOOO!”
11 years ago today, Sergio Aguero scored THAT title winning goal against QPR 🔥🏆
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) May 13, 2023
City have only one UCL trophy to their name, making them one of Europe’s most successful English clubs. Liverpool are the most successful English club in Europe, with six European titles. Manchester United have won European cups on three occasions, including that famous treble-winning season in 1999. Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have won the continental trophy twice. Aston Villa and Manchester City are the other English teams to have won the competition.
Will City repeat last season’s heroics in the upcoming campaign? Let us know your predictions in the comments section.
