Rodri won this year’s Ballon d’Or after helping Manchester City to win the Premier League and Spain to win Euro 2024, but Robert Pires believes the voters got their rankings wrong
Rodri won this year’s Ballon d’Or after helping Manchester City to win the Premier League and Spain to win Euro 2024, but Robert Pires believes the voters got their rankings wrong Rodri won this year’s Ballon d’Or after helping Manchester City to win the Premier League and Spain to win Euro 2024, but Robert Pires believes the voters got their rankings wrong
Arsenal legend Robert Pires has blasted the Ballon d’Or voters for snubbing Mohamed Salah.
Salah failed to make the 30-man shortlist of nominees for this year’s award, despite scoring 25 goals in 44 games to help Liverpool win the Carabao Cup last season. The men’s Ballon d’Or is voted for by 100 journalists, one from each of FIFA’s 100 top-ranked member nations.
Each journalist picks their top 10 from the 30-player shortlist with descending points values for each pick (first is 15 points, second is 12, third is 10 etc). The player who receives the most overall points wins the annual award.
Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri won this year’s award after helping Manchester City to a fourth successive Premier League crown and leading Spain to winning Euro 2024. But Pires has insisted that Salah should have been handed the trophy instead.
“Mohamed Salah is the best player in the Premier League,” Pires told MBC MASR 2. “He has a fantastic mentality, and his level doesn’t surprise me because he’s one of the best players in Europe and the world.
“In Egypt, you know he’s the best in the national team, but what he does with Liverpool is truly exceptional. He’s maintained his level for many years, playing different roles, scoring goals and providing assists. Salah was treated unfairly by being left out of the Ballon d’Or list.
“It’s a loss for the list, not for Salah. This isn’t the players’ fault; it’s the journalists’ mistake. Many great players, like Thierry Henry, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta, never won the award either. Salah’s absence from the Ballon d’Or final shortlist shows that some people don’t know much about football.”
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Real Madrid trio Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal finished second, third and fourth respectively. But all three boycotted the ceremony after it was revealed that Vincius had lost out to Rodri.
Salah meanwhile is continuing to set the Premier League alight despite his Ballon d’Or snub. He notched a goal and an assist on Saturday to lead Liverpool to a win over Aston Villa, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The Egyptian now has 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions already this season. And new boss Arne Slot has been delighted with his performances this term, despite his contract expiring in the summer.
“I’ve worked with him now for four or five months, and you guys have seen him here for six or seven years in a row now,” Slot said on Saturday when asked about the Egyptian’s statistics this term.
“It’s special that he scores so many goals already; what makes it even more impressive is that he does this year after year after year. Not many players are able to do that and that he is able to do this tells you a lot about the quality he has.”
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