Arsenal legend Robert Pires thrashes 2024 Ballon d’Or voters for snubbing Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah despite his incredible long-term consistency. Salah failed to make the 30-man shortlist for the 2024 Ballon d’Or even though his contributions dwarfed other elected players.

Ballon d’Or uses a voting system involving 100 journalists with a minimum of one from every FIFA’s 100 top-ranked nations. This year’s Ballon D’or drew controversies after Manchester City star Rodri defeated Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior for the award.

Madrid fans and people associated with the club threw an emotional tantrum after receiving the information about the true winner. Vinicius infamously taunted about winning the Ballon d’Or prematurely towards Barcelona players in Madrid’s 4-0 loss during the El Classico.

The Brazilian also made premature arrangements to celebrate his victory only to suffer massive embarrassment after Rodri won the award. However, Liverpool and Salah’s fans have a more just claim against Ballon d’Or due to the treatment of their legend.

Arsenal legend Pires told MBC MASR 2 (Via Mirror) that the absence of Liverpool star Salah from the shortlist proves that many people lack football knowledge. He said:

“Mohamed Salah is the best player in the Premier League. He has a fantastic mentality, and his level doesn’t surprise me because he’s one of the best players in Europe and the world. In Egypt, you know he’s the best in the national team, but what he does with Liverpool is truly exceptional. He’s maintained his level for many years, playing different roles, scoring goals and providing assists. Salah was treated unfairly by being left out of the Ballon d’Or list. It’s a loss for the list, not for Salah. This isn’t the players’ fault; it’s the journalists’ mistake. Many great players, like Thierry Henry, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta, never won the award either. Salah’s absence from the Ballon d’Or final shortlist shows that some people don’t know much about football.”

The 32-year-old scored 25 goals and provided 14 assists from 44 games in all competitions last season under Jurgen Klopp. Furthermore, Salah has continued his incredible form this season despite many naysayers doubting him after last season’s late Liverpool struggle.

The Egyptian has scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists from 17 games in all competitions so far this season. The 32-year-old has 221 goals and 99 assists from 366 games for Liverpool during his legendary trophy-winning tenure at Merseyside.

Discrimination at play?

Nevertheless, highly-reputed individual trophies like Ballon D’or have alluded to Salah despite his unmatched accomplishments with the club and country. There is a strong argument of racism and other forms of bigotry from the European and African media towards Salah.

A lot of former African players and pundits ignore Salah as Africa’s best player in the Premier League when no one has matched his numbers and longevity. There are constant shouts on the media and social media about former African legendary players like Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba having a better career than Salah.

However, none of those players have the longevity in consistency at the topmost level alongside contributions that are parallel with Salah. Eto’o stat padded a lot of goals during his time at Antalyaspor and Anzhi Makhachkala with 80 goals at those clubs.

The Cameroon legend scored 130 goals and provided 40 assists during his peak years at Barcelona, followed by 53 goals and 25 assists for Inter Milan. Eto’o struggled to contribute effectively in the Premier League, scoring 12 goals and providing 4 assists from 35 appearances for Chelsea.

Meanwhile, fans compare Drogba to Salah because of his incredible run with Chelsea in the Premier League. The Chelsea legend scored 164 goals and 88 assists from 381 appearances for Chelsea which is nowhere near Salah’s numbers at Liverpool.

More Liverpool News

• Liverpool hater David Coote is just one small minotaur in PGMOL labyrinth of power abuse
• Liverpool legend claims Kelleher deserves starting role over Alisson
• Liverpool ready to cash in on Wembley hero as January window looms

A similar argument is valid for the European and British media which are constantly ignoring Salah yet shamelessly compare their favourites with the Egyptian. The Egyptian legend has received comparisons with wingers like Eden Hazard who accepted Salah as the better player himself.