Caption: Liverpool legend John Barnes (C) in a photo with SCB Brunei CEO Anirvan Dastidar (L) and a fan. Picture: Yee Chun Leong
Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
LIVERPOOL legend John Barnes believes that winger Mohamed Salah can challenge for this year’s Ballon d’Or after having a phenomenal first season with the Reds.
Blistering performances week in and week out have some believing that the Egyptian can rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to end their stranglehold on the prestigious award with AC Milan’s Kaka being the last player, besides the duo, to win it in 2007.
“I think he has got a great chance, a fantastic chance. With the World Cup coming up, we will have to look at (how) Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi (perform) because those two have really been the winners for over the last 10 years,” said Barnes in a interview with BruSports News and The Scoop this morning.
“They have been the best players who have been unchallenged with Neymar coming closest.
“Of course now you have Salah challenging for it. I mean Ronaldo and Messi are two great players and they have great seasons once again,” he added.
“But I have never seen a better first season from any player in any country as good as the one we have seen from Mo.
“The Ballon d’Or is in December and there is still a lot of football to play but if he continues up till then he will have a fantastic chance,” continued Barnes during the sidelines of a football clinic organised by Standard Chartered Bank Brunei (SCB) in collaboration with Jerudong International School.
Those in attendance for the football clinic organised by SCB in collboration with JIS this morning. Picture: Yee Chun Leong
Salah has taken his tally up to 43 goals in 47 games in all competitions thus far for the Reds and is just four off Ian Rush’s goalscoring record in a season.
Barnes credited Jurgen Klopp for it and felt that Salah would not necessarily succeed had he played for another club.
“Salah has had a fantastic start and I hope that he can continue in this vein of form,” said Barnes.
“We wouldn’t have necessarily said Mo is a goalscorer. He is obviously a creator but now he has scored more goals than anyone else in Europe (with 10).
“He has brought that to his game but that has a lot to do with the way how Liverpool play,” he added.
“That has a lot to do with strategy that Jurgen Klopp has implemented, to suit players like Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
“The way Liverpool play suits Mo down to the ground. I don’t think there is another club that would get the best out of Mo and that is because Jurgen Klopp plays (the team),” continued the former England international.
Liverpool legend John Barnes signing autographs for a group of young fans. Picture: Yee Chun Leong
Liverpool legend John Barnes in a group photo with some of the participants. Picture: Yee Chun Leong
Two days after winning the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, Salah contributed two goals and two assists against his former club Roma in Liverpool’s 5-2 blowout victory over the Italians in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
The triumph puts the Reds on the brink of their first European Cup final since 2007 but Barnes warns that there is no room for complacency after witnessing the Giallorossi come back from a 4-1 deficit to knock Barcelona out with a 3-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico in the second leg.
“I wouldn’t say that they destroyed Roma because people said that Barcelona destroyed Roma in the first leg and Barcelona went out,” said Barnes, who is also a previous PFA Players’ Player of the Year winner.
“It is a good result which obviously puts us in the driving seat but we saw what Roma did to Barcelona in the second leg.
“They are capable of doing that if we go into this game with complacency. We are in a good position, however, the game is not over yet,” he concluded.
Barnes was invited to Brunei for a coaching clinic as part of SCB Brunei's 60th anniversary activities.
Organised in collaboration with JIS, the clinic is hosted for children from JIS, ISB and the Bank's clients with the objective to engage children in the love of sports and nurture potential talent.
