sport news As we mourn Pele and marvel over what Messi did in Qatar, Erling Haaland might ... trends now
The quality of greatness in sport throws out a brilliant and alluring light that makes everyone in its orbit feel enriched by its presence.
I sat for a while with Michael Jordan 25 years or so ago in the Chicago Bulls’ locker room before a regular season game against the Bucks in Milwaukee and still remember thinking that, even on a treatment couch, the man seemed like a force of nature.
It was quite something, too, to be in the Lusail Stadium on the northern outskirts of Doha a fortnight ago to witness the genius of Lionel Messi leading Argentina to victory over France in the World Cup final.
Erling Haaland has continued his phenomenal scoring form since the Premier League's restart
The power of Messi’s talent seemed to hang over the arena that night so that you felt that you were watching an unstoppable force.
We want to acclaim greatness so that we become, however tenuously, associated with it. So that we can bask in its glow. Here is my picture with Pele.
Here is my Michael Jordan story. This was the time I met Tiger Woods. Have I told you I bumped into Ayrton Senna once in the Duty Free shop at Heathrow? We are always on the look-out for greatness. We crave new outbreaks of it.
There are new candidates as we mourn the death of Brazilian legend Pele, who died aged 82
And even as we mourn Pele and marvel over what Messi did in Qatar over the course of four weeks that straddled November and December, there are new candidates to anoint.
He was out of focus for a while because he did not have a part to play in the World Cup but now that the Premier League has restarted, Erling Haaland is scoring goals again and it feels as if he might be on the verge of achieving something special.
Haaland is not Pele and he is not Messi but he has a talent for scoring goals that is marking him out as a phenomenon.
Lionel Messi (pictured) became a hero as he recently won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Since he arrived at Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, he has taken the Premier League by storm.
If the vote for player of the season was made at the turn of the year, Miguel Almiron would be a candidate and so would Bukayo Saka, but Haaland would be a runaway winner.
The numbers he is putting up are frightening. The
