Jurgen Klopp has revealed his shock at the final Ballon d’Or standings following Monday night’s showpiece in Paris, claiming he was surprised Mohamed Salah finished way down in seventh. The Egyptian is enjoying another stunning campaign for the Reds and his manager is clearly adamant that his efforts deserved more recognition over the course of the calendar year.
Salah helped the Reds dig out a third-place finish last season in the Premier League despite a number of high-profile injuries that threatened to wreck Liverpool’s season.
The 2019/20 reigning champions would not have made the top-four had it not been for his 22 goals as he once again recorded 30 (31) in all competitions.
Providing there are no injuries, Salah is on course to smash that tally this term having already found the net 17 times in 18 outings.
He is the Premier League’s top scorer with 11 in 13 matches and has scored a further six in this season’s Champions League group stages.
And for that reason, Klopp is surprised he did not finish higher up in the Ballon d’Or standings.
“I was surprised Mo finished 7th (in the Ballon d’Or),” he said in his press conference ahead of the trip to Everton.
Yet is wasn’t the only point Klopp did not agree with.
Like many, the German pointed out that he felt his former player Robert Lewandowski had done enough to win this year’s prize.
“You can give it to Lionel Messi for the career that he has had but if you do not give to Robert Lewandowski this time it is quite tricky to give it all,” Klopp added.
Lewandowski had been on course to win the 2020 award after firing Bayern Munich to a historic treble.
But disaster soon struck for the 33-year-old after the awards were cancelled due to the ongoing battle against COVID-19.
Yet there was still hope Lewandowski had done more than enough to win this year’s prize.
He has rifled in 64 goals in 54 outings for club and country in 2021 but still – that was enough to take home the award.
Instead, the Bayern talisman took home the inaugural Striker of the Year award for his performances.
Lewandowski’s agent Pini Zahavi has also questioned the decision to award Messi this year’s prize.
The super-agent told TZ: “Big congratulations to Messi: an impressive player and an eternal legend of football, but the Ballon d’Or 2021 doesn’t belong to him. Not this time. The Ballon d’Or belongs to Robert Lewandowski.
“Robert was not robbed, but he is the man who deserves it. No wonder that many hundreds of millions of fans find it hard to believe the end result of this prestigious football event.
“Monday evening should have ended with Robert celebrating his first Ballon d’Or.”