In a decade dominated by Messi and Ronaldo, a new star emerged onto the world stage in the 2017-18 Premier League season. Mo Salah, and Egyptian born winger burst onto the scene scoring endless amounts of goals and leading Liverpool back to the Champions League and Egypt to its first ever World Cup.
Salah
Last season for salah was record breaking. His 37 goals in the Premier League was a new record to go along with his 12 assists and eventual Golden Boot and Player of the Year award. After scoring a last minute penalty to put his country into its first World Cup in their history, he scored their first ever World Cup goal as they eventually got eliminated in the first round.
Most people thought Salah was a for sure lock for a spot in the FIFA Pro XI which recognizes the top eleven players at their respective positions in the world. After the awards were given out and Salah was surprisingly left out of the top 11, many people were surprised and could not believe what happened.
The three players who beat him out for his position were Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbappe, who is just 19 years old. While all three of these players had exceptional years, were they better than Salah’s?
Ronaldo
Ronaldo led his team to the World Cup and scored a team high 4 goals. He also Led Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions league title while scoring 44 goals and adding 8 assists throughout the season.
Messi
Lionel Messi also had a great year leading Argentina to the World Cup Round of 16 and scoring a big goal for them in the tournament. He also led Barcelona to another La Liga title while scoring 45 goals and setting up another 18.
Mbappe
The player who most people were surprised from that ended up making the Pro XI was the teenager Kylian Mbappe of PSG and France. He scored only 21 goals in all competitions for PSG as they underachieved once again on Champions League play. However, he was a star throughout their run to the World Cup Final as he eventually won the Best Young Player Award on top of winning the tournament with France.
Most would say that Salah deserved a spot on the FIFA Pro XI team, but in the end, his team never won anything and he was never asked to truly preform on the big stage as he was taken off due to injury in the Champions League final Against Real Madrid after a short amount of time. This does sway voters against Salah and the consistency of Messi and Ronaldo will always hold a special place in the voter hearts. Mbappe’s World Cup is what put him ahead of Salah as he, at the age of 19, lead France to the World Cup title and dominated world soccer at such a young age.
Soccer with Reggie 