Mohamed Salah "shocked" by poor Ballon d'Or rating and admits he wanted to be higher

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has admitted he was "shocked" by his lowly ranking in last year’s Ballon d’Or awards.

In November, Lionel Messi landed his record-breaking seventh Ballon d'Or title by scooping the 2021 accolade – narrowly pipping Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski to the title in the voting. Salah – who had enjoyed a fine personal year – was listed in seventh place in the rankings.

Chelsea midfielder and Italy international Jorginho completed the podium as Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema – who is already a strong favourite for the 2022 crown due to his exploits in La Liga and the Champions League – came in fourth spot.

Two other Premier League players came before Salah in the rankings – Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante was in fifth, with Cristiano Ronaldo – who returned to Manchester United from Juventus last summer – ranking in sixth spot, just ahead of Salah.

That was the Egyptian’s third personal best finish in the rankings – having placed in sixth spot in 2018 (at the end of his first full season at Anfield) before rising to fifth in 2019. The Ballon d’Or awards were not held in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Salah has now spoken about his disappointment from last year’s rankings and added that he was aiming to make history in the awards by becoming just the second ever African player – and the first this century – to win it.

Speaking to France Football, as cited by Marca, Salah said of his motivation: "I want to win it to join George Weah, the only African. "It's true that I was shocked by my ranking in 2021. For this year, the defeat against Real Madrid is a disadvantage, even if I played a good game in the final.

"But it doesn't cancel out everything I've achieved for months. Let's wait