Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah has admitted that He wants to be recognized as the best player in the World and the Ballon D’or is his forefront goal.
Mohamed Salah had another exceptional season with Liverpool despite losing the final The Champions League to Real Madrid and also lost the Premier League on the final day to Manchester City.
The 29 years old Egyptian international shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Tottenham Hotspurs Son Heung-min with 23 goals respectively. Mohamed Salah also won the Premier League playmaker of the season with 13 assists.
Salah also won the PFA player of the season and the Football Writers Association player of the season. The Egyptian international has been tipped to share the Ballon D’or podium with Real Madrid Karim Benzema and club teammate Sadio Mane.
What did Mohamed Salah say?
In an interview with L’Equipe.The PFA player of the year said: “I want to be recognized as the best player in the world. And the Ballon d’Or is at the forefront of my goals.
“I want to win it to join George Weah, the only African. I was indeed shocked by my ranking in 2021 (seventh).
“For this year, the 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 in 2022, I’ll do everything I can to be the next one.”
Salah added: “Last summer, on holiday in Greece, lying in front of the sea, I was asking myself how to be a better footballer, which is getting harder and harder because I always have two or three defenders behind me.
“I have to invent new ways to open up the game in front of me, to find other spaces. This reflection has paid off, my statistics have improved.
“My [opposing] defender has to say to himself: ‘Damn, him again!’. My goal is that he doesn’t have time to catch his breath. He has to feel in danger every moment of the ninety minutes.”
Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah claims Liverpool deserved to win the Champions League ahead of Real Madrid.
Mohamed Salah continued: “We deserved to win, we had more chances, I got two or three quite big ones but, each time, Thibaut Courtois made incredible saves.
“It’s his job, Real recruited him for that. He earned his Man of the Match award. It was his evening.
“Here again, I draw inspiration from the past. In 2018 we lost the Champions League final, already against Real Madrid, and the following season we were European champions.
“That’s what I’m aiming for. We must always look ahead, not complain.”
Salah also reflected on Liverpool’s season after they lost both the Premier League and the Champions League but won the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.
He said: “Of course, there were these big disappointments, but can we talk about a failed season? I don’t think so.
“I ended up top scorer and top assists in the Premier League, I was voted player of the year by English journalists and by my peers.
“I was consistent and decisive all season and Liverpool produced exciting to play and won two trophies. You don’t have to darken the picture.”
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