Could Mo Salah become Liverpool’s first Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen?

Since Mo Salah “The Egyptian King” arrived at Anfield in 2017, there have been very few players on the planet better than him. He has been central to Liverpool’s meteoric rise to one of the world’s best teams, and played a vital role in their Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup victories. The one thing left for Salah to achieve is the ultimate individual goal: the Ballon d’Or. Only one African player has won the award in its history, when Liberian legend George Weah claimed the award in 1995 and Liverpool fans will be hoping Salah can become the first red to win it since Michael Owen in 2001. Salah finished seventh in the 2021 standing, and he has finished in the top 10 in the past three years. Salah is currently third favourite to win the 2022 award at 5/1 on to win the award according to these UK betting sites and here we look at why he has a case to win the award, and who his closest rivals could be by the end of 2022. 

The best player in the world?

With just a handful of games left to play this season, Liverpool are still incredibly in with a chance of securing a famous quadruple, and cementing themselves as one of the greatest club sides in the history of the game. It’s very hard to argue against the fact that the most important player in this incredible team is Salah, and if Liverpool do win the quad, it would be very hard to look past him as a Ballon d’Or winner. 

Star left-back Andy Robertson was asked about the Egyptian after Liverpool’s red-hot start to the season by Sky Sports, and hailed him as “the world’s best.” He said: “The thing that goes under-rated with Mo is his work-rate - the way he helps out Trent (Alexander-Arnold), the way he helps out his defence behind him and everything like that. That's when he's at his best, that's when he creates the chances and gets the goals, when he's mentally so strong.

“He's an incredible player and I think at this moment he's the world's best and he'll want to continue that. He won't want it for nine or 10 games, which he's done so far, he'll want to do it for a whole season like he's done previously and hopefully he can do it, because it gives us the best chance of scoring goals and winning trophies."

Salah has admittedly slowed down in the second half of the season, but still remains favourite for the golden boot, three goals ahead of second place with 20 goals for the season. It is expected he will win PFA player of the year too, which would be richly deserved given quite how dominant he was in the first half of the season. 

Will Lewandowski finally get his Ballon d’Or?

Robert Lewandowski was in many people’s minds the rightful winner of the 2021 award instead of Lionel Messi, and was a shoo-in for the award in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At 33 years of age, time is running out for the Polish marksman to win the award his performances over the last few years so richly deserve, but he is still favourite to win the award in 2022 with the bookies. Since signing for Bayern in 2014, he is averaging roughly a goal per game, and is showing no signs of slowing down. In the 2021/22 season, he has scored a truly remarkable 32 goals in 30 Bundesliga games, as well as 13 in 10 in the Champions League. If he can have a fruitful World Cup, and continue his eclectic form in to next season, this may be the year the Ballon d’Or voters finally give Lewandowski his dues. 

Brilliant Benzema is in the form of his life

Another player at the back end of his career and seemingly improving with age is Real Madrid and France striker Karim Benzema. The 34-year-old has been somewhat under-appreciated in his time at Real, often due to being overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo, but since CR7’s departure from Madrid, Benzema has been untouchable. He has scored 25 goals in 28 La Liga appearances and 12 in nine Champions League games. He almost single handedly dragged Real through the Last 16 of the Champions League with a magnificent hat-trick against PSG in the second leg in Paris, and was the hero again in the Quarter-Finals with another hat trick in the first leg and an extra-time winner in the second against Chelsea. No one has been more clutch this year, and Benzema is finally getting recognition as one of the world’s greatest footballers. According to the bookies, he is second favourite to win the Ballon d’Or, but if he continues in this vein of form, it will be hard to see anyone else winning the award. Benzema said in October that it his dream to win the Ballon d’Or, and to recognised as the best in the world. He said: "Since I was little, I have had the dream of winning the Ballon d'Or, which is the dream that all footballers have. It is true that the most important thing is always the team, but when you help your team to win, when you are involved in important plays and score a lot of goals, the next thing is to win the Ballon d'Or, which in my head and in my thoughts. Of course, I am going to do everything possible and I am going to work as hard as possible to have that great trophy, to hopefully win it one day and fulfil that dream that I have had since I was a child."

There is no doubting Mo Salah’s quality, and he is rightfully one of the favourites for the 2022 Ballon d’Or, but he will have to continue his incredible form into next season and help his team win as many trophies as possible this year if he is to compete with Benzema and Lewandowski. It will be no easy feat, but if there’s any man who can do it, it’s the Egyptian King.

Written by Alan Spencer