Liverpool star Mohamed Salah snubbed both Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in his voting for the FIFA Best awards.
Messi claimed the men’s player of the year gong at FIFA’s annual awards ceremony on Monday (February 27) night by some margin having finally won the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar last year. Defeated finalist Mbappe was a distant runner-up.
But Salah picked neither of the PSG stars in his three votes which were worth five, three and one point(s). Instead, he opted for Vinicius Junior, Kevin De Bruyne and Achraf Hakimi respectively.
READ MORE: Lionel Messi does team-mate Kylian Mbappe no favours in voting for The Best award
The Egypt captain was the only player to vote for Real Madrid winger Vinicius in the top spot – and he was accused by some fans of doing so to improve his own chances of winning.
“Salah deliberately just wasting votes,” tweeted one, while a second echoed: “Salah was just wasting votes.”
A third argued: “Tactical voting from Salah. My guy thought he had a chance.” And a fourth claimed: “Salah didn’t want to reduce his chances.”
Who would you have voted for? Let us know in the comments section.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“Salah doesn’t watch football,” commented a fifth. A sixth joked: “He probably has himself in his FPL.”
The voting being made public has especially caused issues for Real defender David Alaba, who voted as Austria’s captain. He picked Messi ahead of club team-mate Karim Benzema, which led to backlash from fans.
(Image: Getty Images)
He responded on Twitter, writing: “The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone. Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that’s how it’s decided.
“Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances and I have often said that for me he is the best striker in the world, and that is still the case. Without doubt.”
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