Manchester City striker Erling Haaland didn’t do very well in the important final game. This has caused some worry among people who follow football.
They’re concerned because there’s an upcoming event called the Ballon d’Or, where the best player in the world is chosen.
In this event, Haaland will be competing directly with Lionel Messi, who is a really famous and skilled player.
Messi recently won the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which is a huge accomplishment. The fact that Haaland didn’t perform well in the finals makes people wonder if he will be able to compete strongly against Messi for the Ballon d’Or award.
Haaland performed poorly once more for Manchester City in a championship game; this time, it led to an Arsenal attempt that was unsuccessful on penalties in the Community Shield.
In the Community Shield match against Arsenal, Erling Haaland performed poorly.
Before Leandro Trossard equalised for the Gunners in the 101st minute, he was replaced in the 65th minute by academy star Cole Palmer, who scored a gorgeous curler and appeared to have won it for City.
Despite moving to the club from Borussia Dortmund last summer, the 23-year-old played in four finals for the English champions, including two Community Shield contests.
According to Squawka, he had 13 touches, attempted six passes, only completed four of them, and did not attempt a shot against Arsenal because France international defender William Saliba completely shut him out.
Sofascore went on to break down each of his performances in the club’s four finals to date, beginning with the Community Shield loss to Liverpool from the previous year, in which he had 16 touches, played three shots, and missed a significant opportunity.
The EPL golden boot winner had a similar performance in the FA Cup final against Manchester United when he had 35 touches and took three shots as Ilkay Gundogan came clutch for City with two goals early in either half to help with a 2-1 victory.
His outing in his biggest final so far, the 2023 UEFA Champions final, was dismal, as he had only 19 touches of the ball with only one shot. Spanish midfielder Rodri scored the only goal for Pep Guardiola’s men to complete a historic treble.
He had another quiet outing in the UEFA Super Cup final, he had zero shot on target meaning he couldn’t score, but buried his penalty.
His rival Lionel Messi, in the World Cup final against France, scored twice to help Argentina to a 3-3 draw and scored the first penalty of the shootout to help win the Mundial, a tournament Haaland was absent from as Norway did not qualify.