Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, 52, has claimed that the 2023 Ballon d’Or should be awarded to his team’s monster goalkeeper Elling Holland, 23.
The Norway international scored 53 goals in 53 appearances in the 2022-2023 season, helping City to a historic treble.
He is one of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or, which will be announced on Tuesday.
Guardiola said: “He should get it. We won the treble and he scored 50 million goals,” Guardiola said.
Elling Holland celebrates his goal. 바카라사이트
Lionel Messi (36-Inter Miami), who led Argentina to victory at the 2022 Qatar World Cup while with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is Holland’s main rival for the 2023 Ballon d’Or. Messi is a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Guardiola, who managed Messi at FC Barcelona, said: “The Ballon d’Or has two parts. One is for Messi, and the other is to be found.”
Holland scored eight goals in 12 appearances in the 2023-2024 season, but hasn’t found the net since September 23 against Nottingham Forest.
It will be interesting to see if Holland can break his goal drought in his first English Premier League home game of the season against Brighton on Nov. 21 (11 p.m. ET).
Manchester City is 6-2-2 (18 points) this season and sits in third place in the Premier League behind Tottenham Hotspur (6-2-2, 20 points) and Arsenal (6-2-2, 20 points).
