Eurovision Song Contest viewers thought a key Manchester City star had swapped the football pitch for the stage as they watched the action unfold live on BBC One.
The 67th edition of the world's biggest music competition took place on Saturday night in Liverpool (May 13). A whopping 26 acts took to the stage at the M&S Bank Arena after the city was chosen to host Eurovision 2023 after the UK was asked to be the home of the event this year despite the country not winning last year.
Tens of millions across the world tuned in to watch the competition unfold and as voting lines opened, viewers were treated to a musical treat. Last year’s UK entrant Sam Ryder, who came second in 2022, returned to the Eurovision stage and performed with dancers wearing prosthetic limbs.
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Wearing a trademark sequinned jumpsuit, reminiscent of his 2022 Eurovision outfit, he sang new single Mountain after all the countries’ entrants had performed. A group of dancers all with prosthetic limbs appeared on stage with Ryder and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. The singer was then joined by a troupe of drummers as the stage lit up.
There was then a moving moment when past Eurovision stars from across Europe appeared on stage with 'The Liverpool Songbook'. It brought together six iconic Eurovision acts from the past – Italy's Mahmood, Israel's Netta, Iceland's Daði Freyr, Sweden's Cornelia Jakobs, Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands – plus Liverpool's very own Sonia, who was celebrating 30 years since she came second at Eurovision in 1993.
Opening the performance was Italy's 2019 representative Mahmood with a beautiful rendition of John Lennon's Imagine before Israel's 2018 winner Netta upped the tempo with the late Pete Burns' track You Spin Me Round.
Icelandic favourite and 2020/2021 entry Daði Freyr performs Atomic Kitten's Whole Again, Sweden's breakout 2022 star Cornelia Jakob's performs a strip back cover of Mel C's I Turn To You before Sonia hit the stage with a remaster of her winning track, Better The Devil You Know.
But all eyes appeared to be on Daði as those tuning in couldn't help but notice he bared a resemblance to Man City's very own Erling Haaland.
@PlayGrum tweeted: "Wonder if Pep gave Haaland permission to perform at the Eurovision." @BenJoyceFoot joked: "Can’t believe Pep let Haaland go to Eurovision the night before a big game." @csrandall87 asked: "If there anything Haaland can't do? #Eurovision."
@Leedsfan207 quizzed: "What is Haaland doing on Eurovision? #EUROVISION." @ukmarkus added: "This is Haaland without football #Eurovision."
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