Is Liverpool’s European exit the end of Salah’s Ballon d’Or dream? | OneFootball

As the travelling Parisian contingent celebrated behind the goal, Liverpool’s beaten side looked dejected.

On 39 previous occasions, Liverpool had never been knocked out in a European tie in which they won the first leg away from home. There would not be a 40th. Paris Saint-Germain deserved to progress over two engrossing ties, recovering from a smash-and-grab setback in the French capital to win at Anfield.

Alisson’s 16 saves across both legs were the most by a goalkeeper in a Champions League knockout tie in eight years. Paris Saint-Germain recorded the highest xG of any visiting side at Anfield this season – by half-time. This was not a fortuitous win.

While Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones were consoled following costly penalty misses, Mohamed Salah tearfully applauded the Anfield crowd. Salah’s future remains up in the air and this, quite conceivably, could have been his final European game at a venue where he has enjoyed some unforgettable nights.

Perhaps, however, Salah’s sadness was more than Liverpool’s own European exit. The 32-year-old is in the midst of a golden season, breaking new ground in the Premier League. Such has been his level, Salah had placed his name at the forefront of the Ballon d’Or conversation. For a footballer so fiercely ambitious, becoming just the second African to win football’s greatest individual honour will no doubt have been in his sights. Liverpool’s exit from Europe might just undo that dream.

Of the last 10 winners of the Ballon d’Or, only one player – Lionel Messi in 2019 – has won the award without lifting the Champions League or a major international tournament. That season saw Messi score 51 goals in just 50 appearances for Barcelona. In the absence of a major international tournament, success on the Champions League stage could be a defining factor for the 2025 award.

Salah has already dropped to third favourite behind Kylian Mbappe and Raphinha, the latter in the midst of an exceptional campaign for Barcelona. On Tuesday, as Salah struggled to find a route past PSG, the Brazilian scored twice to book Barcelona’s place in the quarter-finals. He is the Champions League’s leading scorer this season, with 11 goals. Salah, in contrast, netted just twice from open play in nine European games this season.

Real Madrid superstars Mbappe and Vinicius Junior will again be in the frame, while a resurgent Ousmane Dembele – who scored the crucial goal against Liverpool for PSG – is putting his hand up for selection. At 27, Dembele is finally fulfilling the potential that injuries once hindered. He’s scored 21 goals in 2025 alone and, regardless of Ligue 1’s overall strength, is leading PSG’s challenge for a maiden European crown.

Salah needed the Champions League.

Premier League players have notoriously fallen short when it comes to the Ballon d’Or, with Rodri’s success last year just the third time an English-based player has won the award in the Premier League era. For a division that often labels itself as the best in the world, it’s a paltry total. For all the entertainment England offers, it’s often perceived that the game’s true superstars reside in Spain.

For Salah’s scintillating season to be defined by a penalty shootout appears cruel, but the likelihood is that Gianluigi Donnarumma’s denial of Nunez and Jones from the spot could cost him. Even a record-breaking Premier League season might not be enough to end Africa’s 30-year wait for football’s finest to hail from the continent.

Read – Enrique says ‘both teams deserve to qualify’ as Liverpool crash out

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