FIFA Best Awards: Mo Salah Snubbed Messi and Mbappe to Vote for Surprise Players

• Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah had surprise picks for the 2022 edition of FIFA's The Best Awards
• Being the Egypt national football team captain, Salah was eligible to participate in the voting
• Lionel Messi was voted the best men's player of the year 2022 ahead of Kylian Mbappe

Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah was among the voters during this year's FIFA The Best Awards.

The Egyptian national captain made the shortlist for the FIFA Men's Best Player Award after an amazing year with the Reds where he provided 70 goal contributions to help them win two trophies.

However, he missed out on the gong to Lionel Messi, with the Paris Saint-Germain superstar picking up the prize for the second time in his career.

According to Sportbible, Salah finished 14th in the power rankings, with Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema joining Messi on the top three podium.

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Salah's picks for FIFA Awards

Given that Salah is the Egyptian national team captain, he was eligible to vote in the best player and best coach category.

While the forward could not vote for himself, he had rather surprising picks in his voting.

The former Chelsea and Roma star overlooked both Mbappe and Messi, who were certainly among the favourites for the prestigious award.

According to The Mirror, the Egyptian instead went for Real Madrid ace, Vinicius Junior as his first choice for the FIFA Men's Best Player Award.

He settled for PSG defender, Achraf Hakimi in second place, with Man City playmaker, Kevin De Bruyne coming in at third in Salah's picks.

Madrid fans slam Alaba

Sports Brief also reported on Real Madrid fans singling David Alaba for criticism following his decision to vote for Messi ahead of Benzema at FIFA's The Best Awards.

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Alaba was the only Los Blancos player to vote for the Argentine, who won the coveted prize for a record-extending seventh time at the 2022 awards held in Paris, France.

His decision did not sit down well with a cross-section of the club's fans, who reportedly showered him with a truckload of backlash, including racist abuse.