Mohamed Salah was left off of Thierry Henry’s list of players he believes should win the 2025 Ballon d’Or by former Arsenal and Barcelona striker. This follows Salah’s heartbreaking elimination from the Champions League via penalty shootout against PSG on Tuesday night, despite his 54 goal contributions in just 42 games in all competitions this season.
Liverpool now leads Arsenal by 15 points at the top of the Premier League thanks to Salah’s incredible play. The 32-year-old is only three assists away from the league record of 20, which is shared by Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, and leads Erling Haaland by seven goals in the Golden Boot race with 27 goals.
But as history has shown, winning a domestic league rarely has a big impact on the Ballon d’Or vote. Rather, the prize is much more likely to go to players who win on the region or internationally. Henry thinks that one player is in a better position than the Egyptian King right now to win the Golden Ball in October because of this.
Henry Believes Raphinha Is ‘Ahead’ of Salah in Ballon d’Or Race
The former Leeds United winger is closely followed by three other in-form stars
The former Leeds United winger is now leading the race for the Ballon d’Or, and Henry cited his performance in Europe—Barcelona made it to the quarterfinals—as well as the fact that Salah and Harry Kane’s goal totals have been inflated by penalties.
Salah has scored 11 goals from the penalty spot this season, whereas Raphinha has only scored one in all competitions. To the surprise of the other members of the CBS Sports panel, Henry said (see the entire segment below):
“Raphinha is currently ahead of me, and I attribute this to his performance in the Champions League. In the Champions League, he has 11 goals. Kane, [Ousmane] Dembele, and Mo Salah are all excellent candidates. In addition to winning your league, it depends on how well you do in the Champions League. Raphinha has scored numerous goals and only received one penalty.
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“Mo Salah is having a season in the Premier League that we will never see again,” the Frenchman continued. “I’m not suggesting that Kane and Salah shouldn’t have penalties. I’m not going to say that what you guys accomplished was bad—it’s fantastic—but I need to talk a little more about this person if he has almost as many goals as you guys, without any penalties.
When someone talks about being a complete striker, Rhinha, you should know how to put on pressure and support and protect your entire back. And he has everything.
After Liverpool’s Tuesday night penalty shootout loss to PSG, Salah couldn’t contain his tears. Now, the team’s attention is on winning the Premier League and getting ready for Sunday’s League Cup final against Newcastle United.
Henry’s reasoning was aptly summed up earlier that night when Raphinha scored twice as Barcelona easily defeated Benfica to go to the Champions League quarterfinals.
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