Ballon d Or: Different strokes for organisers, Salah fans
The 2021 Ballon d Or may have been won and lost. For organisers Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah will have to wait for his tune but for his turn, but for fans of the Egypt international Salah has simply been robbed.
Salah had been tipped as one of the frontrunners to win the 2021 Ballon d’Or, so it was no surprise to see Liverpool fans fume at the results when it was revealed the Egyptian had finished in seventh place.
Along with now seven-time winner Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski, it was believed Salah would be guaranteed a place in the top three after producing incredible displays.
The Egyptian had been one of the standout performers in the 2020-21 season after helping Liverpool rescue their failed title defence to finish third in the Premier League, scoring 28 goals and creating six assists.
But it is Salah’s form in the current campaign that has caught the eye, with 17 goals and five assists in all competitions — the most goal contributions by any player in the top five European leagues.
And after making it into the top 10 this year, it was viewed as chance for Salah to improve upon his fourth-placed finish in 2019 after Liverpool had won the Champions League.
But there was shock amongst football fans on social media when it was revealed the 29-year-old had finished only seventh, with Messi taking the prize and Lewandowski second.
Salah, who was not present at the awards, was placed behind Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United star who finished sixth.
Fellow Premier League players Jorginho and N’Golo Kante also ranked higher than Salah after their role in helping Chelsea win the Champions League with Chelsea, finishing third and fifth respectively.
He was also behind Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, the Frenchman who scored fewer goals in LaLiga and ended up without a trophy last season. He came home in fourth.
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The news was met with anger from fans after seeing the results published and they took to Twitter and Reddit to register their dismay at Salah missing out on the prize.
One Twitter user named Luke tweeted: “I love Ronaldo but how can you look at the year that him and Salah had individually and justify putting him above Salah, nonsense.”
The reaction was the same on Reddit as one user lambasted the awards ceremony: “Joke of an awards, Can’t take it seriously after they’ve just given Lewa [Lewandowski] a cardboard consolation prize.”