Liverpool had six players in the final Ballon d’Or rankings, with Mo Salah coming in fifth place.
The overall award was won by Karim Benzema, with former Red Sadio Mane in second place. Kevin de Bruyne came in third and Robert Lewandowski fourth.
Salah’s fifth-place finish marks a slight improvement from last year’s laughable seventh place.
After Salah, the next highest-ranked player from Anfield was Fabinho, who was named in equal 14th position.
Not far behind were Virgil van Dijk (equal 16th place) and Luis Diaz (equal 17th place).
Trent Alexander-Arnold was rated the 22nd best player in the world… but according to Gareth Southgate he’s not even in England’s best 22 players.
New boy Darwin Nunez was in 25th position after his breakout year with Benfica and record move to Merseyside.
Meanwhile, Mane was also awarded the new Socrates Award in recognition of his charity work in his native Senegal.
Salah’s Ballon d’Or Goal
Speaking earlier this year, Salah told France Football: “I want to be recognised as the best player in the world. And the Ballon d’Or is at the forefront of my goals.
“I want to win it to join George Weah, the only African. It’s true that I was shocked by my ranking in 2021 (seventh).
“For this year, the defeat against Real Madrid is a disadvantage, even if I played a good game in the final.
“But it doesn’t cancel out everything I’ve achieved for months. Let’s wait for the vote. And if I’m not Ballon d’Or in 2022, I’ll do everything I can to be the next one.”
2022 Ballon d’Or Top 10
10. Erling Haaland
9. Luka Modric
8. Vinicius Junior
7. Thibaut Courtois
6. Kylian Mbappe
5. Mo Salah
4. Robert Lewandowski
3. Kevin de Bruyne
2. Sadio Mane
1. Karim Benzema
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