Liverpool star player, Mohamed Salah has admitted that he’s hopeful of becoming the second African to win the Ballon d’Or. He hopes to win the award this year or next.
The Egyptian king has been on top of the goal charts since joining Liverpool from AS Roma in 2018 but hasn’t had an opportunity to grab the individual title. Mohamed Salah added that he was shocked at his position in the Ballon d’Or ranking in 2021.
According to Salah, Real Madrid’s forward Karim Benzema is the only player that can stop him from winning the award this year. This is coming after their 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid in the 2021/22 Champions League competition.
Salah noted that he wants to win the Ballon d’Or just like Liberia’s George Weah who is the only African player to win the Ballon d’Or when he was at AC Milan.
While speaking with France Football, Salah said: “I want to win it to join George Weah, the only African. It’s true that I was shocked by my ranking in 2021.
“For this year, the [Champions League] defeat against Real Madrid is a disadvantage, even if I played a good game in the final. But it doesn’t cancel out everything I’ve achieved for months.
“Let’s wait for the vote. And if I’m not Ballon d’Or winner in 2022, I’ll do everything I can to be the next one.”
Salah was rated lower than expected in the 2021 edition of the Ballon d’Or as Lionel Messi grabbed his 7th Ballon d’Or after winning the Copa America with Argentina. During that period, Messi also had an amazing season with Barcelona but couldn’t win the Champions League.
However, most fans were surprised to see Robert Lewandowski in the second position. Lewandowski had a 2021 season full of goals and many were rooting for him to win the award for the first time but didn’t.
Salah is still hoping to do everything possible to win the award next season if he fails to do that this season.
He said; “For this year, this defeat against Real Madrid [in the Champions League final] is certainly a handicap, even if I had a good match. But it does not cancel everything I have achieved for months. Let’s wait for the jury’s vote. If I am not Ballon d’Or in 2022, I will do everything to be next.”.
