The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual award in world football. The accolade is organised by France Football and given to the best player in the world as voted for by international journalists, coaches and captains. Virgil van Dijk is the nailed on favourite for the award this year as he seeks to become the first defender to take home the award since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. Seven Liverpool players have made the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or this year, more players than any other club has managed. Despite this colossal achievement, Jürgen Klopp couldn’t care less about the Ballon d’Or shortlist.
The Reds players to make the coveted list are Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Georginio Wijnaldum and Alisson Becker. Although Liverpool dominate the list, there are players in the squad that have every right to feel aggrieved by their omission from the list. Andy Robertson in particular had a strong claim to be up for the award, particularly given that somehow Hugo Lloris and Riyad Mahrez have made the list. Just how, we do not know.
Speaking at his press conference, broadcast on the club’s official site, ahead of Liverpool’s away tie with Genk in the Champions League, Jürgen Klopp was asked what he thought about the fact that a majority of his first 11 made the shortlist. Klopp told the gathered press: “it’s normal, I’m proud in general of the boys but I was not proud in this moment”.
It is no secret that the boss doesn’t like to dwell on accolades, wins and achievements. He has said that one of the secrets to the Reds success is the fact that when a game is done, they just focus on the next one – they don’t talk about which record they are set to break or how many points they are off this or that. Jürgen being indifferent in the face of such an achievement is no surprise at all.
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