Mo Salah finished fifth in the final Ballon d’Or rankings, which included six Liverpool players. Let’s have a look at the ranks of other Reds.
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, and Ballon d’Or shenanigans
Karim Benzema took home the top prize, with Sadio Mane, a former Red, coming in second. Kevin de Bruyne in third, followed by Robert Lewandowski in fourth.
Salah’s fifth-place performance is a tiny improvement from his poor seventh position from the previous year.
The next highest-ranked Anfield player after Salah was Fabinho, who was listed in equal 14th place.
Virgil van Dijk and Luis Diaz, who tied for 16th position, were not far behind (equal to 17th place).
Trent Alexander-Arnold was ranked as the 22nd greatest player in the world, but Gareth Southgate claims he isn’t even among the top 22 players for England.
Darwin Nunez, a newcomer for the Reds, was ranked 25th following his record-breaking season with Benfica and relocation to Merseyside. Meanwhile, Mane received the new Socrates Award in honor of his humanitarian efforts in his home Senegal.
A well-deserved winner?
The spectacular 2021–22 European football season was crowned with Karim Benzema’s victory in Paris on Monday as the winner of the men’s Ballon d’Or 2022. The striker for Real Madrid also made history by being the first Frenchman to win the prize since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Last season, Benzema guided Real Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga championships.
In 46 games, he scored 44 goals, scoring 15 in the Champions League. The 34-year-old’s most notable performances were a 17-minute hat-trick against PSG in the second half of the round of 16 Champions League match, as well as another away against Chelsea in the quarterfinal first leg. Additionally, he scored three goals in each leg of the semifinal matchup against Manchester City.
The Club of the Year?
The award for the club of the year was indeed controversial. Manchester City won the race for recognition with Liverpool being 2nd and Real Madrid in 3rd position.
