Mateo Kovacic believes one of his Manchester City teammates deserves to win the Ballon d’Or.
Manchester City’s aspirations to complete an unprecedented back-to-back treble lived on on Tuesday as they advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Pep Guardiola’s team thrashed Luton Town 6-2 in an entertaining match at Kenilworth Road and they remain in strong positions in the Premier League and Champions League.
Erling Haaland was the star of the show as he became the first player to ever score five goals in a single match twice for City following his exploits against RB Leipzig last season.
But the Norwegian sensation was helped massively by Kevin De Bruyne, who teed him up four times.
That takes De Bruyne’s assist tally for the season up to 11 and he missed the first five months through injury.
In just 12 appearances he now has more assists than any other City player.
Mateo Kovacic grabbed the sixth goal and he tipped De Bruyne to win the Ballon d’Or after the match.
Mateo Kovacic says Kevin De Bruyne should win the Ballon d’Or
Speaking to beINSports, Kovacic said: “Yeah, Kevin’s Kevin, he’s amazing.
“I think a player who deserves to have a Ballon d’Or. He’s played amazing for so many years, just his ability.
“An amazing player, an amazing guy. I’m very happy to have him with us.”
Can Kevin De Bruyne win the Ballon d’Or?
With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now out of European football, as their remarkable careers come to an end, the Ballon d’Or is wide open again.
The pair have dominated the award for a decade and a half, with one of them winning it 13 times out of the last 15 times it was handed out.
Only Luka Modric in 2018, Karim Benzema in 2022 and the Covid-19-induced cancellation of 2020 have loosened Messi and Ronaldo’s iron grip on the trophy.
The Argentine did win it last year thanks to his exploits at the World Cup but that will likely be the last.
So De Bruyne certainly has a say this time around, especially if he keeps his performance levels so remarkably high and stays fit.
The £54m man will have stiff competition from many of his teammates, though, with Haaland finishing second last season.
De Bruyne finished fourth but was also rivalled by Rodri, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva.
Phil Foden will be hoping to be in the mix this time while Kylian Mbappe is always in contention and Jude Bellingham is the current favourite.
