‘Keeping this big body up in the air for that long is not easy!’: Erling Haaland names acrobatic bicycle kick against Southampton his favourite of the 52 goals he has scored this season, as Manchester City striker wins the FWA Footballer of the Year award
Erling Haaland has named his bicycle kick against Southampton his ‘favourite’ of the 52 he has scored for Man City this season, as the Norwegian striker was named FWA Footballer of the Year.
Haaland has scored a record 36 Premier League goals this season, guiding City to their third title in a row.
He can still take the Cityzens to a famous treble that would replicate rivals United’s achievement in 1999, as they still have FA Cup and Champions League finals left to play.
The 22-year-old won 82 per cent of the FWA vote, beating Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard to the award.
Speaking at the ceremony in London on Thursday night, Haaland said: ‘I have to thank my teammates, without the passes of Kevin [De Bruyne], the passes I’ve been getting this year it would not be possible.
Erling Haaland has scored a phenomenal 52 goals for Manchester City this season
He was named the Football Writers’ Association footballer of the year on Thursday
‘I just have to thank all the staff at the club and my teammates for making this possible.’
‘If Manchester City play well the striker is going to score goals. Last year they scored I don’t know how many goals, so as a striker coming in of course I would score goals.’
The former Dortmund man, who moved to Manchester for just £51 million last summer, also said he ‘loved’ playing and living in England, and thanked manager Pep Guardiola at the club for his support.
When asked if he had a favourite goal this season, Haaland replied: ‘I scored a lot of nice goals, I have to say that, I really liked the goal at home against Manchester United, the pass from Kevin, sliding down, seeing how the ball would bounce, catching it perfect.’
Haaland scored a hattrick in City’s 6-3 win over United in October, but he picked out another goal as his most impressive.
‘The bicycle kick against Southampton was something special,’ he said, ‘so it’s difficult to choose one.’
The striker said his bicycle kick against Southampton in April was his favourite goal this season
He joked about how tough it was keeping his 6ft 4in frame in the air for the goal
’ll take the bicycle kick, to have this big body up in the air for that long is not easy!’
On City’s chances of completing a famous treble this season, the striker added: ‘The champions league is my biggest dream. We’ll see in the next weeks.
‘Hopefully they will be some great weeks I will do everything I can to make it happen, everyone at the club wants it to happen, if we play at our best it will happen. Hopefully that’s exactly what they will do.’
City play their final Premier League game against Brentford on Sunday, before their potentially season-defining finals against Man United in the FA Cup on June 3 and Inter MIlan in the Champions League on Saturday 10.
