Erling Braut Haaland has simply been a sensation for Borussia Dortmund this season. Before the current campaign was derailed by COVID-19, the Norwegian wunderkind lit up the Bundesliga along with a host of fellow young stars.
The statistics speak for themselves: nine goals and an assist from just eight games in the league are a testament to his clinical finishing in front of goal.
There is also, of course, his now-famous volley against PSG from the edge of the box that somehow made a sound after smacking against the net.
Best African player in football
Haaland sat down for an Instagram livestream session from the confines of his house yesterday.
The teen sensation revealed that although Africa has many top players, he considers Liverpool and Senegal’s forward Sadio Mane as the best.
🗣 Erling Haaland thinks Sadio Mané is currently the best African player in World Football 👏pic.twitter.com/BOPz4NH6fB
— Steven Gerrard (@Gerrard8FanPage) April 4, 2020
Mane played a pivotal role in Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side as they not only went on to win the Champions league but are also on the verge of securing their maiden Premier league title.
Mane has created an astonishing 46 goals and 15 assists from 91 games for Liverpool. And that is despite overlooking the significant impact he has for the Merseyside club as a winger – the man has successfully provided 104 crosses in the same period of times, with a whopping 33 being executed this season alone.
It doesn’t hurt the club at all that he is just as adept defensively, with a cumulative 98 tackles successfully effected, 36 of them coming from the 26 games having been played this time around.
He has been a force of nature on both ends of the pitch. He even took his nation Senegal in the Africa cup of nations final where they eventually lost to Algeria.
But he was appropriately awarded for his efforts as he won the African player of the year for the year 2019 and also came 4 on the Ballon d’Or rankings.
Even Messi who voted for Mane to win the FIFA Best award admitted it’s a shame that Mane finished 4 in the Ballon d’Or rankings.