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Mohamed Salah of Liverpool (Image: Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

For six minutes on Tuesday night, Raphinha had the Ballon d'Or within his grasp.

As the Brazilian wheeled away in celebration after firing past Yann Sommer in the final minutes of normal time in a thrilling semi-final second leg between Inter Milan and Barcelona, he was surely well aware that, in addition to putting Barcelona on the brink of a first Champions League final appearance in 10 years, his quest for football's most prestigious individual award was reaching the home straight.

After a talismanic season as one of the spearheads of Barcelona's revival in both La Liga and the Champions League, alongside 17-year-old Lamine Yamal, Raphinha had compiled a Ballon d'Or-worthy body of work ahead of the final weeks of the 2024/25 season.



Sadly for the forward, though, that Grade A submission lasted all of six minutes before Francesco Acerbi levelled the aggregate score to six goals apiece with a stunning near-post finish in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

And when pandemonium descended on the San Siro shortly after following Davide Frattesi's winning goal in extra time, Raphinha's advantage in the race for the ego-scratching honour had been rendered void.

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It was no surprise, then, to see the former Leeds United and Rennes man cut such a dejected figure at full time when Szymon Marciniak's whistle signalled the end of such a captivating two-legged affair and confirmed Inter Milan's place in a second Champions League final in three seasons.

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Elimination at the hands of the 2010 winners ensures that Raphinha now falls back in line with the rest of the Ballon d'Or-chasing pack and faces a testing five-or-so months until the winner is announced at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet on October 27.

It also hands Mohamed Salah the opportunity to re-audition for an award that has evolved from a fleeting dream to a career-defining obsession since signing for Liverpool in 2017.

Since its inception in the 1950s, the winner of the Ballon d'Or has been determined by a panel of international journalist, but the merits of the award have been somewhat diminished in recent years, with it now, in some circles at least, viewed as a political weapon for super clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Such theories are supported by the fact that Salah has somehow only finished in the top five of the Ballon d'Or standings on two occasions (2019 and 2022) since moving to Anfield and helping the Reds sweep up every major honour available eight years ago.

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Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's fourth goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Anfield on April 27, 2025 (Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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The closest he has come to following in the footsteps of the only previous African winner, George Weah, was in 2022, as Liverpool, then managed by Jurgen Klopp, stood on the brink of an unprecedented quadruple.

But after Manchester City staged a late fightback against Aston Villa on the final day of the season to snatch the Premier League title away from Anfield and Vinicius Jr scored the winner in the Champions League final six days later, Salah's stellar campaign, consisting of 46 goal involvements, was overlooked.

Twelve months later, Salah, understandably, was unable to make the top 10 after a season of fatigue at Anfield saw Klopp's men miss out on Champions League qualification following a fifth-place finish in the Premier League.

And such is the tedious nature of the award that last year, Mats Hummels, Artem Dovbyk, Granit Xhaka and Ademola Lookman were shortlisted for the accolade ahead of Salah.

Shock.

But this time around, for perhaps the first time in his career, Salah's prospects of landing the award felt as real as ever as he raced out of the traps and scored the goals to ensure it was a smooth transition from Klopp to Arne Slot at Anfield while the two pre-season favourites for the award - Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland - struggled with form and fitness at Real Madrid and Manchester City, respectively.

And by the start of February, Salah's resume was growing by the week with Liverpool top of the Premier League, in the last-16 of the Champions League and still in both domestic cup competitions.

But after a damaging week saw Liverpool exit the Champions League at the hands of PSG and suffer a shock Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United, in the midst of a barren run of just four goals in 13 games, his chances of toppling his fellow European frontrunners were slashed.

Now, if Salah is to become just the eighth English-based player to win the award, then he will require a stellar end to the campaign - perhaps breaking Thierry Henry and Haaland's record for the number of goals and assists in a 38-game Premier League (44) season - as well as a lightning-fast start when the domestic duties return in August.

Salah could also do with an unlikely favour from Arsenal on Wednesday night when they face Paris Saint-Germain, led by his Ballon d'Or rival, Ousmane Dembele, in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

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Indeed, should the Gunners manage to overturn the one-goal deficit from last week's first leg at the Emirates and deny PSG a second Champions League final appearance in five years, then Salah's chances of landing the prize would be boosted considerably.

The remaining weeks of the season are likely to see Salah scoop both the PFA and Football Writers' Player of the Year awards, in addition to his Premier League winners' medal, to crown one of the greatest individual campaigns in English football history.

But Salah won't rest until he gets his hands on the Ballon d'Or.
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