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Bernardo Silva backing team-mate & 'good guy' Haaland to triumph in Ballon d'Or

  /  autty

Erling Haaland will be a worthy Ballon d'Or winner should Manchester City win a historic Treble this season.

Only one player - Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008 - has been voted the world's best player whilst in the Premier League but Haaland's 49 goals already this season make him a stand-out candidate, particularly as there is no major international tournament this summer.

Bernardo Silva is rooting for the big Norwegian who will lead the line at Fulham on Sunday.

'I hope he wins it because he's not just a good player, he's a very good guy. And it means we've won the Premier League and Champions League! I am cheering for him to be fair,' he said.

Bernardo is perfectly placed to compare Haaland with his Portuguese team-mate Ronaldo.

'The personalities are different, off the pitch he is a very different guy to Cristiano,' he says.

'On the pitch, there are a few similarities in terms of that hunger to score goals when he's in the box.

'When the ball is close to goal, Erling is always there, he has that sniff of knowing where the ball will drop. Cristiano has it as well.

'They are different players in others ways but that hunger of wanting to score and score and score, to help the team, that is similar.'

Haaland will equal the all-time Premier League scoring record in a season if he nets at Craven Cottage to take his tally to 34 and both Andy Cole and Alan Shearer got to that tally in a 42-match season.

The City No9 has scored 16 times in his last nine games in all competitions.

Liverpool's Michael Owen was voted the Ballon d'Or equivalent European Player of the Year in 2001 but it only opened up to players based in every continent in 2007.