Jurgen Klopp has declared Liverpool will need to lift the Champions League this season in order for Sadio Mane to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or.
The Senegalese forward, 30, is among the leading contenders for the esteemed individual accolade and strengthened his claim with yet another goal in midweek.
He took his tally to 20 in all competitions with a fine strike to double Liverpool's lead against Villarreal in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The highest Mane has finished in the Ballon d'Or voting is fourth in 2019 while, astonishingly, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the award in 12 of the last 13 years. To break up the two superstars' duopoly and give Mane a realistic chance of success, Klopp suspects the Reds will need to emerge victorious from May's final at the Stade de France
"Wow! He plays an outstanding season, Sadio is an outstanding player," Klopp responded when asked if Mane deserves to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or. "I have nothing to do with the Ballon d'Or nomination and all these kind of things, I don't understand it really 100 per cent.
"He is world-class and played again a really good game for us. I don’t know exactly how you come to that question now, the season is not even over. Historically you have to win something, I think, to win the Ballon d'Or most of the time.
"It was like this, that if you are not Messi or Ronaldo you have to win probably the Champions League, which we didn't do yet so give us a few more weeks and then we will see where we end up. Sadio wants to contribute, Sadio wants to help the team and that's what I love most of all."
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While Mane is in the mix to win the award this year, teammate Mohamed Salah also has a strong hand and Karim Benzema is the runaway favourite in the bookmakers' markets. The latter scored twice as Real Madrid shared a seven-goal thriller with Manchester City in the other semi-final on Tuesday, which the Spanish giants lost 4-3.
Benzema, 34, has scored a breathtaking 41 goals in 41 appearances in all competitions this season while Salah, 29, has 30 in 44 games.
The Egyptian was not on the scoresheet against Villarreal - Liverpool's opener was a Jordan Henderson-created own-goal by Pervis Estupinan - but he set up Mane's strike with a fine through-ball. The second leg will be played at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday.
