Manchester City players showcased their dominance in the FIFPRO World Men’s Team, which FIFA unveiled at an awards ceremony in London. The team, comprised of the best men’s players from the previous season, was determined by votes from over 28,000 professional footballers.

Six stars from Manchester City, who achieved a remarkable Treble last season, featured prominently in the team. Surprisingly, there was no representation from Manchester United players. Lionel Messi was the sole player outside of Europe to secure a spot in the team, which adheres to a 3-3-4 formation and highlights the best men’s players.

In addition to the player accolades, Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, was named the Best FIFA Men’s Coach. Guardiola guided several of the City stars included in the team to extraordinary success during the previous season.

The recognition solidifies Manchester City’s exceptional achievements and the impact of their players and coach on the world football stage.

2023 FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World XI

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois.

Defenders: Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias.

Midfielders: Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Jude Bellingham.

Forwards: Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior.

🚨 Introducing the 2023 FIFA FIFPRO Men's #World11, voted for exclusively by players.#TheBest | @FIFAWorldCup | @FIFAcom pic.twitter.com/nZjisXo8OQ

— FIFPRO (@FIFPRO) January 15, 2024

Speaking on the six players included in the team, Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain said: “To win five trophies in 12 months is incredible and we are delighted to see so many of our players recognised for their incredible contribution.

“The whole squad were outstanding and the club is very proud to have six players named in the Team of the Year.

“Everyone at the club worked incredibly hard and they continue to have a determination to bring even more success.

“It’s a very special group of players and this is a deserved tribute to the hard work and desire that runs throughout the club.”

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Bernardo Silva equaled Cristiano Ronaldo’s Premier League assist record with one assist against Everton.
In the 53rd minute, the Portugal international set up Phil Foden with a ball outside the box, and the England international produced an incredible long-range goal to give Manchester City the equalizer. Silva tied Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s record with his 37th assist for the Cityzens in the Premier League.

Bernardo Silva has now provided as many Premier League assists as Cristiano Ronaldo (37). 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/srk0PoSjRO

— Squawka (@Squawka) December 27, 2023

Julian Alvarez gave the reigning champs the lead ten minutes after Foden tied the score with a penalty kick. Then, in the 86th minute, Silva himself scored a spectacular goal to put the game away.

In 16 league games this season, the former AS Monaco player has five goals and four assists for the Sky Blues.

Along with Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, the offensive midfielder was heavily linked to a summer transfer to Saudi Arabia; nevertheless, he ultimately chose to remain in the Premier League. Afterwards, he agreed to a new deal with the European champions that will keep him with the team through 2026.

Pep Guardiola’s team will greatly benefit from the comeback victory at Goodison Park, as they have reclaimed fourth place and cut the deficit to league leaders Liverpool to five points. The English champions take on Sheffield United on Saturday in their last-year match.

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The shortlist for the world’s most prestigious individual football award has been unveiled in anticipation of the ceremony scheduled for October 30 in Paris. Leading the pack are Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland, two of the standout contenders for this coveted accolade.

Messi’s inclusion is especially significant as he was absent from the shortlist last year. If he secures the men’s Ballon d’Or this year, it would mark his eighth win of the award, with Cristiano Ronaldo closely following with five victories. Additionally, Messi earned the Best FIFA Men’s Player award for the second time in February.

The announcement of the winner is scheduled to take place during a ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on October 30.

Messi’s leadership was instrumental in Argentina’s triumph at the 2022 World Cup in December, a major achievement that had eluded him throughout his remarkable 21-year career until then.

Messi had a mixed year for his club. He struggled at Paris Saint-Germain, but he did help the team win its 11th Ligue 1 title as they were eliminated from the Champions League at the round of 16 stage for the second consecutive season.

He chose to join Inter Miami on a free transfer this summer instead of staying in Paris, and he immediately made a difference by helping them win the Leagues Cup and advance to the U.S. Open Cup final.

Erling Haaland, who was also nominated, could be Messi’s toughest rival for the honour. The Norwegian forward helped Manchester City win the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League by tallying 52 goals in 53 games across all competitions.

In his first season in England, the 23-year-old shattered the Premier League’s single-season goal-scoring record with 36 goals.

The striker also took up a number of individual honours for his outstanding exploits, including PFA Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, and Men’s Player of the Year from the Football Writers’ Association.

As expected, the list of nominees for this year’s award is heavily populated by players from Manchester City and Argentina.

Seven individuals who played pivotal roles in Manchester City’s triumphant treble-winning season, including Erling Haaland, have secured spots on the shortlist. Additionally, four Argentine players, including Lionel Messi, who contributed to their nation’s historic third World Cup victory, have also earned well-deserved nominations.

Full list of men’s Ballon d’Or nominees:
André Onana – Manchester United/Cameroon
Josko Gvardiol – Manchester City/Croatia
Karim Benzema – Al Ittihad
Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich/Germany
Mohamed Salah – Liverpool/Egypt
Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid/England
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England
Randal Kolo Muani – Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City/Belgium
Bernardo Silva – Manchester City/Portugal
Emiliano Martínez – Aston Villa/Argentina
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – Napoli/Georgia
Rúben Dias – Manchester City/Portugal
Nicolo Barella – Inter Milan/Italy
Erling Haaland – Manchester City/Norway
Yassine Bounou – Al Hilal/Morocco
Martin Ødegaard – Arsenal/Norway
Julián Álvarez – Manchester City/Argentina
Ilkay Gündogan – Barcelona/Germany
Vinícius Júnior – Real Madrid/Brazil
Lionel Messi – Inter Miami/Argentina
Rodri – Manchester City/Spain
Lautaro Martínez – Inter Milan/Argentina
Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid/France
Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona/Poland
Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kim Min-jae – Napoli/South Korea
Victor Osimhen – Napoli/Nigeria
Luka Modric – Real Madrid/Croatia
Harry Kane – Bayern Munich/England

The nominees for the 2023 Men’s Ballon d’Or are here! 🤩🏆

Plenty of Premier League representation! 👊 pic.twitter.com/VplS8vkZGD

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 6, 2023

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• Manchester City turn down PSG’s first bid for Bernardo Silva

Manchester City has reportedly rejected Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG’S) initial bid for Bernardo Silva.

The Daily Record states that while Silva is interested in a move to France, there is also attention from Saudi Arabia and Barcelona. However, PSG remains his preferred destination.

Leading PSG’s pursuit of Silva is Luis Campos, the club’s football advisor, who has a close relationship with the player since signing him for Monaco in 2014.

Despite PSG’s interest, City is hopeful of convincing Silva to stay and extend his contract, which currently runs until 2025. However, the club may need to prompt the Portugal international to make a decision about his future.

City’s pre-season preparations include a friendly against Bayern Munich on July 26.

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As Erling Haaland’s Manchester City teammate Bernardo Silva lauded the forward’s attitude, comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo were made.

With 32 goals already to his name in just 28 league outings, the record-breaking Norwegian is on track to smash the 34-goal Premier League golden boot mark held by Andy Cole (1993–94) and Alan Shearer (1994–95).

Haaland has scored 48 goals from 42 games this season in all competitions, closing close on Ronaldo’s career-high of 61 goals in a single season (in 2014–15).

Additionally, Bernardo, who competes with both players for club and country, saw additional parallels between the two in an interview with Arab News.

“The goal figures, it’s unbelievable; it’s Cristiano and [Lionel] Messi level, that amount of goals,” the Portugal midfielder said. “Hopefully Erling can keep going that way because we need his goals until the last game of the season. He has definitely got the same mentality as Cristiano, always wanting to be in the box, always wanting to score. He doesn’t care if he touches the ball one or two times, when he touches he scores. He’s just a proper striker.

“We knew what Erling could do before he arrived because he’s been doing that for a few years before he joined us, in Norway, Austria and Germany. We watched him and we played against him, but you never know when he comes here, what level he can get to. But what he’s done so far this season has been amazing and we are really happy to have him with us. He’s definitely a special player and he’s helping us very much. I hope he can get even better.”

The relationship between Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland, who has been instrumental in City’s success this season, has been essential.

On April 8, the Belgian and Haaland teamed up to defeat Southampton, bringing his career total in the Premier League to 100.

De Bruyne has a total of 23 assists for the current season, and Bernardo thinks their “special combination” has been crucial to City’s push for the treble.

“Erling has a special combination with Kevin, who loves those kind of players like Erling,” he added. “Because when he’s got the ball you need to make runs and Erling is so strong, so quick going in behind. It’s a perfect combination and they are doing so well, as we have seen this season. The last few years we have had winning runs of 20 games, or been unbeaten, and now we are in good form again. We hope to keep it that way because we want to win the trophies. We’ve been there before.”

Pep Guardiola’s face arguably their biggest match of the season so far – and one of the most important in recent Premier League history – when they welcome fellow title challengers Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

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Bernardo Silva believes Manchester City will advance to the Champions League final if they defeat Real Madrid in the competition’s last four.

On Wednesday, City and Bayern Munich drew 1-1 in the second leg of their quarterfinal match, securing City’s passage with a 4-1 aggregate triumph.

The victory sets up a matchup with Madrid in the semifinals, giving City the opportunity to exact revenge on the Spanish team after they defeated them in dramatic fashion at the same stage last year.

Silva fancies his team’s chances of overcoming Carlo Ancelotti’s men in the final four, telling BT Sport: “We will go for it definitely. We always go for it but we feel the team is very, very confident at the minute. I think we are going through.”

After losing at the same level the previous two years, City has advanced to the Champions League semi-finals for the third consecutive year.

Silva added: “We struggled until February because we couldn’t get in that usual run we had before of winning 10-15 games in a row but now we are very consistent, we feel we have a chance in every competition and we are going for them.

“We are at that point of the season where if you drop your performance in one game you are out of competition. It is going to be tough but we are going to work very hard to bring some titles home.”

In the second week of May, the first leg of the semifinal match will be played. But on Saturday, City will play Sheffield United in the FA Cup semifinal.

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Al-Nassr player Cristiano Ronaldo created more history on Thursday night in Lisbon, when Portugal defeated Liechtenstein 4-0.

Ronaldo netted a brace in Portugal’s first game under new manager Roberto Martinez, kicking off the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in style. Bayern Munich’s Joao Cancelo and former Manchester City teammate Bernardo Silva both scored.

Ronaldo, who joined Saudi side Al-Nassr in January, captained Portugal against Liechtenstein. It was his 197th senior game for his country – becoming the most capped player in men’s international football. Yet it wasn’t his only achievement on Thursday night.

CR7 also became the first player to score 100 competitive international goals with his brilliant brace in Lisbon. The veteran’s first strike was a penalty, while his second was a ferocious free kick. It was a reminder of what he still has to offer at the international level.

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Ronaldo’s goals mean he has now scored for 20 consecutive years for Portugal. His first goal came in June 2004, when Portugal suffered a 2-1 defeat to Greece during the group stages of Euro 2004 on home soil. They famously also lost the final to Greece.

Ronaldo has scored a lot of goals since then. He has 120 goals for Portugal, making him the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football. Ali Daei of Iran is second on the record with 109 goals, while Argentina’s long-term adversary Lionel Messi has 98.

Ronaldo has 197 caps for Portugal, moving him ahead of Bader Al-Mutawa of Kuwait (196 caps), Soh Chin Ann of Malaysia (195), Ahmed Hassan of Egypt (184), and Ahmed Mubarak of Oman (184). (183).

To add further context to Ronaldo’s achievement, Sergio Ramos is the second-most capped European men’s footballer with 180 senior outings for Spain. Gianluigi Buffon played 176 times for Italy, while Iker Casillas managed 167 appearances for Spain.

Ronaldo was asked about his desire to break records ahead of Thursday night’s game. He said, “Records are always positive, it’s my motivation and as you know, I like to break records. I have a lot of records, but tomorrow’s is also a special record.

“Being the most capped player in history – I have to confess that it is something that leaves me quite proud. In addition to being the best scorer ever for the national teams, I would also like to be the most international capped player. But not only tomorrow, I would like to have a lot of matches in the future.”

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Bernardo Silva has acknowledged that he will speak with Manchester City about his future at the end of the current season and that he is ready to quit the team if the appropriate offer comes around.

Silva has long been tipped to leave City and has not been completely settled in Manchester for a good few seasons now, with a handful of La Liga sides previously exploring ways to lure the 28-year-old away from the Etihad.

In fact, mp3bullet believes that Barcelona, who made an attempt to sign Silva last summer, is still committed to signing the Portugal international in 2023 if they can raise the necessary funds to finance a transfer.

In a candid interview with Record, Silva did not hide his interest in leaving City, suggesting this season could be his last in England.

“I’m very focused on this season and it doesn’t make sense to talk about leaving because we’re in the middle of the season,” he said.

“I’ve been at Manchester City for almost six years, I have a lot of respect for the club, news keeps coming out and people know that there have been talks between me and the club and, at the end of the season, we’ll talk again to see what’s best for the two sides.

“I’m focused on winning more titles for City. We want to win the league again, we have a competition that we have never won and that is a great objective, which is the Champions League, so we want to try again.”

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has escaped a touchline ban for his red card against Man City as he has been fined £30,000 by the FA for his touchline tirade, which infuriated referees’ charity.

Recall, Klopp previously accepted the charge of ‘improper conduct’ for his reaction to Mohamed Salah, not receiving a free kick during the Reds’ victory over Man City.

Following his dismissal for his theatrics on the touchline during Liverpool’s victory over Manchester City earlier this month, Klopp was given a £30,000 fine but escaped a one-game suspension.

Following an “improper behaviour” complaint from the FA, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will be permitted to coach the Reds when they face Leeds in the Premier League this weekend.

He became incensed when Bernardo Silva of City overturned Mohamed Salah, but referee Anthony Taylor did not signal a foul. As the linesman ran past him at the time, Klopp yelled at the official while getting in the official’s face.

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The German was immediately given a red card by Taylor, and he was forced to watch the final four minutes and stoppage time from the dressing room as his team held on for a 1-0 victory following Salah’s first goal.

The FA said in a statement: “Jurgen Klopp has been fined £30,000 for breaching FA Rule E3 during Liverpool FC’s Premier League match against Manchester City FC on Sunday 16 October 2022. The manager accepted that his behaviour during the 86th minute was improper, and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed his sanction during a hearing. This sanction is subject to appeal by either Jurgen Klopp of The FA following receipt of the Independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons.”

The German had previously revealed that he wouldn’t be challenging the charge against him. He said: “I am not sure if we can say we accepted it before it’s official? We just replied in the right way I think, that’s it.”

Explaining his behaviour immediately after the match, Klopp admitted he went over the top in the heat of the moment. “It is about emotion of course so red card, my fault, I went over the top in the moment,” said the former Borussia Dortmund boss. “I know myself, I am 55 and I deserve a red card. I lost it in that moment and it is not okay.”

He added: “I was sitting after the game in the office of Anthony Taylor and spoke, completely calmly, about all the situations. How I saw the game, how he saw the game. It was a completely calm discussion. That’s the situation. I got a red card and now we wait for the process.”

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