Considering the phenomenal success Liverpool have enjoyed over the last 60 years, it’s a little odd that they have only ever had one winner of the Ballon d’Or. Michael Owen is the Reds’ sole recipient of France Football’s annual award for the best player in European (and later World) football, collecting the honour in 2001.
There have been other near misses. Kenny Dalglish was runner-up in 1983, and Virgil van Dijk emulated the king by finishing second in the voting 36 years later. The Reds saw Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah placed fourth and fifth respectively in 2019 too.
But the latter only finished seventh in 2021, a decision which surprised him. "I have nothing to prove that there is something wrong. I really don't know, but I was shocked at the result,” was Salah’s verdict on his relatively lowly placing last year.
