Didier Drogba has praised Erling Haaland for keeping his promise from a conversation at the Ballon d’Or ceremony – replicating Drogba’s iconic celebration on Tuesday night after scoring for Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.
Although Haaland narrowly missed out on the Ballon d’Or award, which was claimed by Lionel Messi, he received the Gerd Muller Trophy for being the best striker after a remarkable season where he scored 56 goals, contributing to City’s treble.
During the ceremony, Drogba presented a challenge to Haaland. The challenge was for Haaland to select between either Lineker or Drogba’s iconic celebration for his next goal.
Erling Haaland: « The new celebration? You'll see on my next goal »#ballondor pic.twitter.com/YBF0PCLU5A
— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) October 30, 2023
In City’s recent match against Young Boys, Haaland opened the scoring from the penalty spot and chose to replicate Drogba’s renowned celebration.
Erling Haaland hit the Didier Drogba goal celebration after accepting the challenge at the Ballon d'Or ceremony 🙌#UCL | @rioferdy5 | @laura_woodsy | @JoleonLescott pic.twitter.com/WJy59vPniq
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 7, 2023
This act of homage delighted Didier Drogba, who expressed his appreciation on social media, commending the 23-year-old for keeping his promise and dubbing him a ‘man of his words.’Didier Drogba to Erling Haaland at the Ballon d'Or ceremony after being awarded the Gerd Muller Trophy by Gary Lineker:
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 7, 2023
'For your next goal I challenge you: you have to choose between the Didier Drogba celebration and the Gary Lineker celebration'
Haaland made his choice 💙 pic.twitter.com/ai5nezLkOf
@ErlingHaaland Man of your words 💯@ballondor #signature🤷🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/Og6qNe6TUj
— Didier Drogba (@didierdrogba) November 7, 2023
Haaland’s impressive performance continued in the same match as he scored his second goal of the night with a powerful shot from outside the box. With 39 Champions League goals in just 34 appearances, he is now only five goals short of matching Drogba’s tally of 44 goals in 92 games, a testament to his remarkable goal-scoring prowess.
Despite the few numbers of appearances in the renowned competition, the 23-year-old is already in the top 20 highest scorers of all time.
Erling Haaland is 𝘼𝙇𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙔 in the top 20 #UCL scorers of all-time 📊🤖
— LiveScore (@livescore) November 8, 2023
He's played just 34 games 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0iwPgXKYn6
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