You could say it was meant to be for Rodri and Manchester City the moment George Weah stepped up to present the men’s trophy.

Weah became the only African winner of the award in 1995, shortly after leaving Paris St-Germain for AC Milan, but he later made a shock move to City in the summer of 2000.

This was long before the club became multiple Premier League title winners; just over a year earlier City will battling to get promoted from League One.

Signing Weah seemed too good to be true, and so it proved. He never settled and after just seven league games – scoring a solitary league goal at Anfield – he made an abrupt departure from Manchester.

Now 58, Weah has been president of his native Liberia since 2018.

Besides he and Rodri, only one other Ballon d’Or winner has played for City. I’ll be mightily impressed if you know who…