Manchester City striker, Norwegian Erling Haaland, candidate for the Ballon d’Or, won a first individual trophy this Thursday, August 31 in Monaco by winning the title of UEFA player of the year on the sidelines of the draw for the Champions League. On the side of women’s football it is the Spanish player of FC Barcelona Aitana Bonmati.
Manchester City’s N.9, who receives this distinction for the first time in his career, has had an exceptional season with his club, which has won a historic treble of cup / championship / Champions League. With his 52 goals all competitions combined for his first season with City, including 39 in the Premier League – a record – the 23-year-old Mancunian was preferred to his Belgian teammate Kevin De Bruyne and the Argentinian Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), winner of the World Cup – 2022 in Qatar.
Rewarded with the women’s prize, Aitana Bonmati also shone last season with FC Barcelona, ????the club with which she won the Spanish championship and especially the Champions League – being voted best player – for the second time in the history of the Catalan club. The Blaugrana then concluded their season in the best of ways at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which they won with Spain having been named, again, best competitive player.
Bonmati was crowned in front of her compatriot Olga Carmona (Real Madrid), also world champion, and in front of the Australian Sam Kerr (Chelsea). The Spaniard held, after receiving her prize, to evoke the scandal of the forced kiss, which continues to shake the world of Spanish football. “We cannot allow the abuse of power,” she said, adding that she was dedicating her award to “Jennifer Hermoso and all the women who suffer from it”.
The award for best coach went to Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), the Spanish tactician who notably enabled his team to lift the Champions League for the first time. On the women’s side, it was the Dutch Sarina Wiegman, who took the English selection in the final of the World Cup-2023, which was crowned, before dedicating its prize to all the players of La Roja.
