Last November, 29-year-old Salah ended up seventh in the Ballon d’Or vote for the best player in the world for 2021.

“It is a good thing to hear that I am nominated for the Ballon d'Or. This prize is one of my priorities, and I would like to become the second ever African player to win it after Liberia’s George Weah,” Salah said in an interview with France Football Magazine.

“I was shocked with my ranking for the prize last year,” the Pharaohs’ skipper added.

This was the third time Salah was nominated for the award, as he finished sixth in 2018 and fifth in 2019. The award was not given in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former Chelsea and AS Roma winger is the only Egyptian player to have been nominated for the award, which was established in 1956.

“Losing the Champions League final against Real Madrid could be an obstacle against winning the Ballon d'Or this year, but this fact can’t cancel my other achievements in recent months,” Salah explained.

“Let’s wait for the voting, and if I am not the winner this time, I will do my best to win it in the coming year,” he added.

Liverpool deserved Champions League title

Liverpool’s 0-1 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final on 28 May marked a painful end to Salah’s season after he also lost the Premier League title with Liverpool and the African Cup of Nations final with Egypt.

Salah, who was named the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year on Thursday, insisted that Liverpool didn’t deserve to lose to the Spanish giants.

“We deserved to win in the Champions League final. We had a lot of scoring chances, and I had two or three clear chances to score,” the Egyptian star said.

“Real keeper Courtois saved all the chances superbly. This is his job; it was his night.”

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