Tribal Football

Arsenal legend Henry: Why Raphinha ahead of Salah in Ballon d'Or race

Paul Vegas
Arsenal legend Henry: Why Raphinha ahead of Salah in Ballon d'Or race
Arsenal legend Henry: Why Raphinha ahead of Salah in Ballon d'Or raceLaLiga
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry admits he rates Raphinha ahead of Mohamed Salah in this year's Ballon d'Or race.

Salah drew a blank in both legs of Liverpool's Champions League round 16 defeat to PSG, while Raphinha scored three times in Barcelona's victory over Benfica.

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"He is up there. Raphinha is ahead, yes, because of what he is doing in the Champions League, 11 goals," said Henry last night on CBS.

"Mo Salah is a great contender, Kane is a contender and Dembele it depends if you perform in the Champions League on top of winning your league.

"Raphinha is on a lot of goals with one penalty, I'm not saying Kane shouldn't have penalties and Mo Salah is having a season in the Premier League that we will never see again hopefully - usually when you have records they're to be beaten.

"I'm saying if a guy has virtually the same amount of goals without penalties, I'm not going to say that's not bad it's outstanding but this guy I have to talk about him.

"When people talk about being complete, as a striker you need to understand how to defend, help your full-back and press well, it's a lot of things you need to do well and Raphinha has it all."