Former Premier League striker Thierry Henry believes Raphinha has leapfrogged Liverpool star Mohamed Salah in the running for the Ballon d'Or. The Egyptian has been the star player for the Reds after inspiring performances in the Premier League and Europe but couldn't help fire Arne Slot's side past Paris Saint-Germain.
Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League on penalties after Ousmane Dembele's goal levelled the tie on aggregate before Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed spot-kicks during the shootout to send the Ligue 1 giants through.
Salah has been earmarked for the iconic personal accolade for much of the season after his chart-topping displays in England's top-flight.
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However, after Liverpool's elimination and a brace for the Brazilian attacker, Henry believes that although Salah is a "great contender" the former Leeds United winger is ahead in the race.
"He is up there. Raphinha is ahead, yes, because of what he is doing in the Champions League, 11 goals," he said. "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."
