Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren has backed team-mate Mohamed Salah to break Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s duopoly over the Ballon d’Or but admitted that only by winning the Champions League will the Egyptian be considered a serious contender.
“I spoke to Mo about that but it’s still quite early stages. If we win (the final), definitely he’s one of the contenders, he can be in the top three best players in the world,” Lovren expressed to the media on Monday when asked about his teammate’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or.
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Salah has broken virtually ever goalscoring record in the Premier League this season, making his sizeable transfer fee (€50 million) look like a bargain in the process.
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“He has the quality, he has this world-class experience already and he is still calm, a man down to earth and he deserves every credit, every goal he has scored.”
While the Egyptian has wowed all with his goalscoring exploits in his debut season for the Reds, there are many who feel that a lack of silverware may prevent him from scooping the biggest individual prize in world football.
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Messi has won the La Liga and Copa del Rey with Barcelona this season to have a strong claim, while rival Ronaldo has ‘only’ managed to lift the Spanish Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA European Super Cup in the 2017-18 season so far.
The duo has won the Ballon d’Or for the past ten years, with five wins for the Argentine and five for the Portuguese.
Salah and Ronaldo will go head-to-head later this week when their sides contest the Champions League final and hence, a lot is riding on the showdown in Kiev.
“Definitely we will help him to achieve this dream for himself personally. When you score 44 goals (you are one of the best) definitely. When you look at Messi, Ronaldo, (after) it’s Mo Salah. He deserves to be in the top three, “the Croatian defender gushed.
The Champions League final takes place in Kiev on May 26.
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