Forget the treble. [Mohamed Salah](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/Mohamed-Salah/) goes into Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Paris St-Germain with a sextet on the line.
As well as the trio of team honours he is pursuing with [Liverpool](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/liverpool-fc/), it would require a myopia epidemic to deny Salah the PFA Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, his 32 goals meaning his only genuine competition comes from Virgil van Dijk.
The other individual honour Salah craves is the [Ballon d’Or](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ballon-dor/). Despite a season for the ages in England, he has ground to make up with the most sceptical international spectators.
The verdict from Paris last week on Salah’s claim to be Europe’s best footballer this season was contemptuous and it did not go unnoticed by the Egyptian.
Influential football daily *L’Equipe* ranked the Liverpool attacker’s round-of-16 first-leg performance in the Parc des Prince as 3/10, a rating so low there was a hint of glee in its brutality.
Salah was certainly unrecognisable from the lethal winger tearing it up in the Premier League, the statistics startlingly bad for someone accustomed to such exceptionally high standards; 41 touches, two failed crosses, eight lost duels and possession squandered 16 times.
But Salah was not the only Liverpool player who toiled against a vibrant Paris St-Germain, and even on those rare occasions his attacking threat is neutralised, his work rate is beyond reproach.
*L’Equipe* is notorious for being tough and in normal circumstances such a derisory verdict could be brushed off as inconsequential. Targeting a world-class player with the motivation and capacity to make such extreme criticism look absurd six days later might also also be conceived as naive ahead of the Anfield return. Salah is not averse to using such swipes as lighter fuel.
Nevertheless, as any player with aspirations of winning the Ballon d’Or understands, seducing the Parisians is a critical part of the dance. It was the magazine *France Football* which created and gave the Ballon d’Or its name in 1956, inviting international journalists to register votes.
Yeah, despite Salah’s exceptional league season, you feel like past history and voting patterns both show that it’ll probably end up being the leading/most decisive player from the CL winners. If it’s Madrid, likely Mbappe. If it’s Barcelona, likely Raphinha. If it’s Liverpool – Salah walks it.
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***Telegraph Sport’s Chris Bascombe writes:***
Forget the treble. [Mohamed Salah](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/Mohamed-Salah/) goes into Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Paris St-Germain with a sextet on the line.
As well as the trio of team honours he is pursuing with [Liverpool](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/liverpool-fc/), it would require a myopia epidemic to deny Salah the PFA Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year, his 32 goals meaning his only genuine competition comes from Virgil van Dijk.
The other individual honour Salah craves is the [Ballon d’Or](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ballon-dor/). Despite a season for the ages in England, he has ground to make up with the most sceptical international spectators.
The verdict from Paris last week on Salah’s claim to be Europe’s best footballer this season was contemptuous and it did not go unnoticed by the Egyptian.
Influential football daily *L’Equipe* ranked the Liverpool attacker’s round-of-16 first-leg performance in the Parc des Prince as 3/10, a rating so low there was a hint of glee in its brutality.
Salah was certainly unrecognisable from the lethal winger tearing it up in the Premier League, the statistics startlingly bad for someone accustomed to such exceptionally high standards; 41 touches, two failed crosses, eight lost duels and possession squandered 16 times.
But Salah was not the only Liverpool player who toiled against a vibrant Paris St-Germain, and even on those rare occasions his attacking threat is neutralised, his work rate is beyond reproach.
*L’Equipe* is notorious for being tough and in normal circumstances such a derisory verdict could be brushed off as inconsequential. Targeting a world-class player with the motivation and capacity to make such extreme criticism look absurd six days later might also also be conceived as naive ahead of the Anfield return. Salah is not averse to using such swipes as lighter fuel.
Nevertheless, as any player with aspirations of winning the Ballon d’Or understands, seducing the Parisians is a critical part of the dance. It was the magazine *France Football* which created and gave the Ballon d’Or its name in 1956, inviting international journalists to register votes.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/03/11/mo-salah-raise-game-in-europe-to-win-ballon-dor-liverpool/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/03/11/mo-salah-raise-game-in-europe-to-win-ballon-dor-liverpool/)
He’s never been good in big games
Yeah, despite Salah’s exceptional league season, you feel like past history and voting patterns both show that it’ll probably end up being the leading/most decisive player from the CL winners. If it’s Madrid, likely Mbappe. If it’s Barcelona, likely Raphinha. If it’s Liverpool – Salah walks it.