Serie A star delighted to surpass Erling Haaland in 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings | OneFootball

Inter Milan and Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries was quite happy to pip Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings.

Haaland has established himself as one of the world’s greatest players since he joined Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022, leading the Blues to their premier UEFA Champions League title as part of a historic treble in his first season at the Etihad Stadium.

The 25-year-old was also pivotal to Manchester City retaining the Premier League title in 2024, solidifying himself as an indispensable outlet in attack for Pep Guardiola and co, who have reaped the rewards of Haaland’s goalscoring heroics since he arrived from Germany.

There were questions raised when Lionel Messi pipped Haaland to the 2023 Ballon d’Or despite the latter leading Manchester City to the treble in the previous campaign – and breaking the Premier League scoring record in a season.

Haaland has been told lately that he needs to leave Manchester City to stand a chance of winning the Ballon d’Or at some point in his career – how much attention he is paying to these unsolicited pearls of advice is unknown after the Norwegian signed a 10-year deal at the Etihad Stadium in January.

City have placed the entirety of their hopes in front of goal on the Leeds-born forward this season as he continue to feel the effects of losing Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid last summer and not signing a like-for-like replacement for the Argentina international.

The Blues have slowly clawed their way back into the conversation for this season’s title race as they look to return to winning ways in the Premier League on Sunday when Bournemouth visit the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola’s side registered their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-final in midweek as goals from Jeremy Doku, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki secured a 3-1 comeback win against Swansea City in the fourth-round of the competition in Wales.

Haaland did not travel for the cup tie on Tuesday evening and is expected to return to the starting XI against Bournemouth, having suffered a knock in Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa last time out in the Premier League.

After securing 25th place in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings, Inter and Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries was quick to see he pipped Haaland – who finished 26th – and in doing so, the full-back was delighted to finish ahead of one of the world’s greatest players in the rankings.

“It was special to experience the Ballon d’Or gala, being among all those world stars. It was an honour to be listed among the top thirty players in the world,” Dumfries said, as quoted by Goal. “I had a really good suit on, got a lot of compliments for it. And hey, I even finished a spot above Haaland! It was the reward for a season with a lot of good matches.”

Finishing above Haaland in the Ballon d’Or rankings after Manchester City’s worst season in a decade is certainly some feat, especially when you consider Haaland had to pretty much do it all by himself in attack last season as he was devoid of his usual service from the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden for a significant part of the 2024-25 campaign.