Sadio Mané has as good a chance as Salah at this point? He has the AFCON to go with the Liverpool performances. He scored twice in the FA Cup semi-final against City and against them in the league, against Benfica in the CL, 6 in 9 in the league in 2022. If he scores in the CL semis and final and has a man of the match performance there?
Ballon d'or 2022 watch thread
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It’s just very ignorant to say
“Salah has not won it because….”racism”
When it’s just not true.
That word gets thrown around so loosely.
I did not say it was racism. Maybe you should read and go and read up on what Drogba has said on the same issue and why he is now part of pool
Institional racism doesn't require anyone to be racist
Yes. But Eusébio was born in Moçambique….
If their was “racism” he would not win it because he is black and born in Mozambique.
That puts quite a flaw in your “racist” claim.
You said
“Shh you can’t say their is no racism in football”
Making the implication. And you said he did not win because he is African. Which is utter bs.
He did not win like others before him because their are better players.
Salah and Mané have definitely been too low in the rankings some of the past few years, and it's always been a pattern for African players (similar story for Eto'o or Yaya). This is a really common criticism of the Ballon d'Or and I wonder how sheltered you have to be to ignore that.
Tbf Salah and Mané suffer from being part of a great team effort, with votes being scattered around them and their teammates. Probably the main reason why VVD didn't win in 2019 too.
Tbf Salah and Mané suffer from being part of a great team effort, with votes being scattered around them and their teammates. Probably the main reason why VVD didn't win in 2019 too.
Lots of people have suggested that African players are not given their proper due in the process; I don't think it's fair to say that someone is ignorant for mentioning something that is already widely discussed.
He has been lower in the rankings because he is African and I stand by that.
The racism comment was actually tounge and cheek because in my opinion there is clearly a lot of racism in football and there is overwhelming evidence of it from the game itself to its journalism. But everyday we pretend that issues don’t have any elements of race involved. Quite frankly its bullshit.
Salah is ranked lower than he should be because he is African. Also in my opinion he should have won it when pool won the UCL in 2018
Bare in mind, Ballon d'Or is a heavily PR decided thing and neither Mane or Mahrez seemingly have big PR teams behind like Salah or Drogba did.
But going back to about 2008, I'd like to know where you genuinely feel this is happening, Drogba in 2012 is a potential shout, but he was mostly not that great, but showed up in the final, Mario Gotze who was reasonably decent in his prime years doing the same in a World Cup final only got 15th in 2014, and also Drogba again in 2009 in 9th... he's below Rooney who also beat him, and unanimously so, to the English POTY.
Salah dealing with split votes and VVD being better anyway in 2019 doesn't count.
Also another to point out, is that Yaya made 12th place quite strongly on the back of winning the AFCON - even winning the Copa didn't get you that kind of boosted votes, well until 2021 at least.
You had Salah above VVD in 2019? Not an absurd opinion by any means but an uncommon one for sure.
Sensible comment. Most African players do not have huge PR teams behind them by the way.
Yes I did yes. Messi won it that year (he shouldnt have) and I think Salah was 6th? Even behind Ronaldo
Well ... no it's not.
Liverpool Player of the Season Awards - Wikipedia
PFA Players' Player of the Year - Wikipedia
2019 Ballon d'Or - Wikipedia
UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award - Wikipedia
It was absolutely unanimous. And it won't be far off again this year probably given Salah's dropoff and nothing to show from the AFCON.
I named 3 other players besides Messi but you chose to focus on him, I'm talking about the main names for the Ballon d'Or since Salah has been in the running, what year should have had Salah win over his competitors?
Face it, it's not racism, it's just he hasn't been wildly better than the rest. If you have an issue with his ranking, then you can find countless other examples from all race and creeds where you can say the same thing. At the end of the day, the Ballon d'Or is made far more important than it is, because it's not really a process that has a lot of logic to it. They've tried to address that with some added rules to this year's voting, but it's never going to be correct, and that's really across all sports, not just football.
I focused on 2 actually
Not sure about that. I think Salah has some of the best PR I've seen in a long time, in England anyway. Haven't seen a top player be so completely immune to criticism from the media after bad performances, and there have been plenty since the turn of the year (for club and country).
His form at the start of the season was brilliant but at this point in terms of the Ballon d'or I'd have Benzema for sure and even Mbappe ahead of him.
His form at the start of the season was brilliant but at this point in terms of the Ballon d'or I'd have Benzema for sure and even Mbappe ahead of him.
No, you focused on Messi as if that was the most ridiculous name to mention, the guy who actually holds the record for the most win in the award during Salah's time at Liverpool, and then conceded Lewandowski but solid attempt at deflecting the actual overall point that it's ignorant and lazy to use racism for Salah's ranking. Also, Messi was better than Salah at Barcelona on an individual level, this is the only clear season where Salah has been better (and somehow Messi and CR7 will probably still make the top 10, which tells you everything you need to know about this award).
Agreed.
I agree, we have the league in the pocket and if can put another good performance in the UCL that should seal it for him.
4th. Or 5th. Either way it was him and Mane 4th and 5th
Forget winning it, talk about being top 3 and even top 10. You will see that there is a clear against african players. Over a long ass period, there is absolutely no doubt about it
The Top3 could easily be Benzema, Salah, De Bruyne.
Why would anyone question that there is eurocentrism in football?
Not saying this in a snarky way but I think you have misread my post.
A lot could depend if Liverpool do the ‘unthinkable’ then surely Salah and Mane must figure strongly. In which case it would be Mane (AFCON) for me.
Benzema Salah and Lewandowski in the running surely?
Genuinely which African footballers do you think we’re in the top 3 in which year?
Just curious.
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He could have been ranked higher but nobody cares about ranking. Salah has never deserved a Balon Dor. He may undeservingly win it this year though.
This.
Also the way Mendy was not named keeper of the year despite being in the world 11 for last season.
Donnarumma won the euros and player of the tournament for the euros
It's eurocentrism, but this is how it's always been. Messi just won the BD for winning the Copa America. I also think he was just plain better than Mendy if we want to argue individual performances
I think the AFCON might have weight these days, but neither Salah nor Mane were really lights out in it. It will come down to the CL, as usual. Right now you really can't look beyond Benzema. Best player in his league and best player in the CL
Etoo was 3rd in 2005 FIFA WPOTY
That will depend on what Liverpool wins between now and next month, even though that won't affect his personal performances this season. Ballon d'Or is heavily skewed towards silverware. Messi didn't deserve it last year, Modric didn't deserve his, I'm sure there was another year in which Messi shouldn't have won it, ... Wouldn't be the first time nor would it be the last.
Messi has generally been the best player for a long time though. Salah has never really. The one season he's supposedly the best, Benzema is actually better.
When there is World Cup like in 2006 or 2018 players whose NTs get far in the competition tend to earn more points. Hence the presence of Cannavaro, Buffon, Zidane, Modric, Griezmann or Mbappe in those years.
Unluckily for the players you mention, African NTs have a very disappointing history in the WC.
Btw, in 2007 Drogba finished 4th behind Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi. That's not bad at all. Special mention for Kanoute, 11th, in spite of not playing strong European competitions.
Benzema for me, the way he’s pulled Real through the champions league and the Spanish league this season has been amazing. Against Chelsea he was at his absolute best.
never really liked him or his role but he’s been pivotal for Madrid over the years and done the dirty work no one else wanted to do.
never really liked him or his role but he’s been pivotal for Madrid over the years and done the dirty work no one else wanted to do.
Realistically every other position besides the top 3 does not mean shit.
Nobody remembers nor cares who was 10th or 20th etc.
The point is when it comes to winning it their is no reason to assume their is some underlying agenda against African players.
You think if Ronaldo or Messi were from Africa they would not have won the same amount of balon d or? Of course they would have.
European and South American have traditionally produced more talented players then Africa, hence that is the reason their has only been one win from that region. Has nothing to do with some assumed agenda towards African players.
Nobody remembers nor cares who was 10th or 20th etc.
The point is when it comes to winning it their is no reason to assume their is some underlying agenda against African players.
You think if Ronaldo or Messi were from Africa they would not have won the same amount of balon d or? Of course they would have.
European and South American have traditionally produced more talented players then Africa, hence that is the reason their has only been one win from that region. Has nothing to do with some assumed agenda towards African players.
Dalah kinda got shit after his afcon loss so he's out of the consideration.
Ae much as I hate a real player winning it I have to admit, benzma has been scintillating this season , if he gets it he deserves it.
I'm still hoping lewy wins it though who has also been sensational though his team had a lackluster performance in Europe and bundes isn't enough to get him there.
Ae much as I hate a real player winning it I have to admit, benzma has been scintillating this season , if he gets it he deserves it.
I'm still hoping lewy wins it though who has also been sensational though his team had a lackluster performance in Europe and bundes isn't enough to get him there.
Also there can't be really that much bias against africa to be honest when no one was good enough to win it, Africa has produced mercurial players but non of them aside from weah(whi many would argue didn't deserve his ballon d'or win) had season good enough warranting them to win it.the closest someone came was eto'o but that was a world cup year so he got overshadowed by Zidane and Ccanavero.
Mandy should have won the best gk award though.
Mandy should have won the best gk award though.
If it was an award for best player Messi should've won it every year since around 2005, but it's an award that rewards the best individual season (while ideally they also won some trophies with their team).
If Liverpool beats Real 2-0 in the CL final, Salah scores two goals and gets MOTM while VVD keeps Benzema quiet for an entire game, votes will be skewed once again in favour of Salah. If Salah had his insane goalscoring run from January-April instead of August-November (or something like that), everyone would be talking about him now instead of Benzema while it's the same season. Mane was done according to a lot of posters not so long ago and now I see his name mentioned in this very thread (undeserving, imo).
Depending on how the CL plays out, KDB, Salah and Benzema are all still contenders imo. Mbappe might be better than them all but if you crash out in the Round of 16 of the CL as a French team, there's not a lot left to establish yourself as a frontrunner, unfortunately for him. Likewise Lewandowski and Bayern.
It's a flawed concept at this point, but I'm not sure how it could be improved tbh. Maybe work with some kind of MVP concept (although it could be argued it already is to some extent by now).
Woah ,you opened a whole can of worms there buddy.