Mohamed Salah was seventh in the Ballon d’Or this year, behind Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho.
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Monday night’s extravagant, glamorous ceremony in Paris proved that the Ballon d’Or is only an opinion and should not be considered gospel.
Liverpool fans around the world were shocked to see Mohamed Salah win seventh place after Lionel Messi won a record seventh title.
It’s seven points behind Cristiano Rojo, who is a man with four domestic goals. To quote Roy Keane, I am flabbergasted.
Salah is currently the Premier League’s best player, which is supposed be the most competitive in the world.
In 13 league games this season, he scored 11 goals and provided eight assists - stats that have put him above all the rest.
Did Mohamed Salah really deserve to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award?We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
It’s more than the goals the forward has scored, it’s the way Jurgen Klopp’s electric style football has impressed him.
Salah’s speed and directness instills fear in Premier League defences. His finishing is second to none.
He is a man at his best. If he’s not going win the Ballon d’Or, when will he?
To be fair to Messi, the Argentine magician had a great year for country and club - finally he won a trophy at the international level.
Robert Lewandowski, second in the race, should be retrospectively awarded last year’s award, which was controversially cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Salah, however, still deserves a place in the top 3, ahead of Jorginho, Chelsea’s midfielder who doesn’t perform at the same insanely high standard.
Instead, Klopp saw the Egyptian King as an insignificant cog in his relentless machine.
Salah was sixth in the 2018 Ballon d’Or, and fifth twelve months later. He is often overlooked for the top awards despite being constantly praised.
“I think not only this year, the last two or three seasons have been amazing,”Fernando Torres, the World Cup winner, said this earlier in the month.
“I think he has been one of the best two or three players in the world in the past five or six years. It’s amazing, the consistency.”
Speaking in October, Jamie Carragher claimed: “I don’t think there’s anyone playing better in the world at this moment or in European football, I really don’t.
“Seeing the Champions League in the last few weeks, his record at the start of this season has been absolutely outstanding.
“You can never really question him too much for what he’s done at Liverpool, if at all, but right now he is probably as sharp and as good as I’ve ever seen him.”
There was some justice for Salah on Monday evening, as he was named the Football Supporters’ Association Men’s Player of the Year. But that’s nothing compared to the Ballon d’Or.
Salah is in the same league as Messi, Lewandowski and any other top player you can think of. It’s about time he was treated as such.