Manchester City forward Erling Haaland kept his Ballon d’Or promise with a Didier Drogba-esc celebration during Tuesday night’s Champions League clash against Young Boys.
At the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris last month, Haaland was awarded the prestigious Gerd Muller Trophy in recognition of his 56-goal debut season for Premier League champions City.
Here, former Chelsea and Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba, who was hosting the ceremony alongside Sandy Heribert, made a celebration-related comment to the Norwegian forward.
He said: “For your next goal I challenge you… you have to choose between the Didier Drogba celebration and the Gary Lineker celebration.”
Haaland responded by saying: “We will see at the next goal. I celebrate in the moment so I will think of both of you (Lineker and Drogba) when I score my next goal and then I will decide.”
Well, eight days after Drogba’s challenge and Haaland lived up to his promise after netting from the spot in their Champions League Group G clash against Young Boys.
Check out that moment below:
Haaland hitting the Drogba celebration uno 😆pic.twitter.com/mcuw4fD3Id
— 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐂̧𝐀𝐓𝐄 (@SirJerry_cfc) November 7, 2023
After landing the award on October 30, Haaland was typically modest about his achievement, saying it’s “his job” to score goals.
“It’s what I’m good at,” he added. “If I had to give my advice I’d say stay hungry, be in the moment, stay sharp. This feeling is an amazing feeling and I had it quite a few times last season, and I want to chase this feeling.”
Haaland went on: “It’s a huge honour to receive the Gerd Muller Trophy. I couldn’t have scored the number of goals I did last season without all of my teammates and this award is another reminder of the incredible year we all enjoyed together.
“We work hard every day to win every game and every competition we play in, but to not only lift the first Champions League in this Club’s history but also the Premier League and FA Cup is something none of us could have imagined.
“I’m proud of what we achieved as a team last season, but our focus now is on trying to do it all again this year.”
❤️✨ Haaland drops the Drogba celebration, as hinted during the Ballon d’Or ceremony! 😅 pic.twitter.com/vHwFKdjNFS
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) November 7, 2023