5 reasons why Liverpool should win the Champions League

#1 Mo Salah's path to Ballon d'Or

Liverpool v Brighton and Hove Albion - Premier League — Mohamed Salah with his Golden Boot

This season the Premier League was graced by a certain Egyptian King by the name of Mohamed Salah Ghaly. His magical feet turned the defenders upside down and left the fans with their jaws dropped. While everyone was in awe of his football, he cheekily made a record held by Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez his. His 32-goal haul in the league saw him surpassing these great players to become the record holder for the most number of goals scored by an individual in a 38-game Premier League season.

After claiming a total of 37 individual accolades this season alone, including the Premier League Player of the Season, Ballon d'Or could be the next target for the 25-year-old.

However, to make a strong claim for the award Salah might need to show something that he has won with his team along with all the awards that he won for himself. Ballon d'Or might be an individual award, but football is a team game and success as a group matters more than as an individual.

Liverpool and Salah were not able to get the FA Cup, the Carabou Cup or the Premier League, but Champions League is within their reach.

Some more of that magic on Saturday to lead his team to glory would see him placed in a better position than Cristiano Ronaldo (as he will not have any major trophies this season unless Portugal wins the World Cup) and on par with Lionel Messi (who won the La Liga, Copa Del Rey and the European Golden Boot) in the race for the Ballon d'Or.

If that is the case, we might be finally seeing the end of the Messi-Ronaldo dominance for the Ballon d'or.

About the author

Dakir is a European and Indian football journalist at Sportskeeda with an overall experience of 10 years. Holding a Master’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication, and currently pursuing Master’s in Sports Journalism from Sheffield Hallam University, he is a seasoned football journalist who has interviewed the likes of former Liverpool star John Arne Riise, covered the entire 2022-23 Indian Super League season of the Kerala Blasters, and has delivered a seminar at an international conference held by St. Albert's College, Ernakulam.

Thanks to his extensive academic background in journalism, Dakir understands the importance of accuracy and spends a significant amount of time researching the subject. In today’s data-driven world of football, where players are perceived as machines, he prides himself amplify the voices of the people that make football the beautiful game that it is.

He started following football in 2013, and more specifically, Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, and admires Jurgen Klopp for his untouched charisma and unmatched legacy. A perpetual underdog supporter, he is a fan of under-fire Reds forward Darwin Nunez and can’t wait for him to show the world what he truly is. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s iconic “corner taken quickly” corner assist for Divock Origi in Liverpool’s 4-0 UCL semifinal win over Barcelona left a lasting impact on him.

When not writing, Dakir enjoys indulging in his guilty pleasure - watching mass commercial movies.

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Edited by Clancy Hughes