Erling Haaland's Norway manager says Man City striker won't win Ballon d'Or

Erling Haaland is one of the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or this year - but his national team manager believes Lionel Messi should win the award instead.

Haaland scored 52 goals for Manchester City last season, helping the Blues win a historic treble and smashing multiple Premier League goalscoring records on the way. Having won the big Player of the Year awards in England, Haaland was recently crowned UEFA Player of the Year, and has his sights on the prestigious Ballon d'Or gong.

However, Messi is odds-on favourite due to his form at the 2022 World Cup, where he dragged Argentina to the final, and then scored twice against France to help his country become World Champions.

And Norway boss Stale Solbakken says that Messi will beat Haaland to the Ballon d'Or for his World Cup exploits.

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With compatriot Martin Odegaard also on the 30-name shortlist, Solbakken said that the nominations reflect well on Norwegian football.

He said: "That's very good. If you help dominate the two best teams in England and have a prominent role there, then you have a great chance of getting into the nominations."

But the Norway boss said that Messi remains favourite ahead of his star striker Haaland.

"It's probably between Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling," he said. "And then there are some outsiders under there. If you ask who I think will win, I think Messi will win because of the World Cup. There is always an emphasis on this year with the World Cup. Mbappé was there too.

"Then Erling has top scorer titles, he has broken records and all the 'player of the year' titles in England, plus he won the most prestigious club tournament. He also stands