Pep Guardiola congratulated Mo Salah on his Footballer of the Year award — and had a friendly poke at rival boss Jurgen Klopp over the fact his table-topping Manchester City did not figure. Salah was named by the Football Writers Association as their pick of the crop in English football for the second time, following on from Ruben Dias lifting it last year.
In 2019 Raheem Sterling had become the first City player to win the prestigious award for 50 years, but last season City players dominated the domestic awards, with Dias lifting the writers' award and Kevin De Bruyne taking the Player of the Year award, as selected by his fellow pros.
Salah beat De Bruyne into second place this time around, taking 48 per cent of the vote and with West Ham and England star Declan Rice coming in third. Nine Liverpool players were nominated, compared to just six for City.
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Salah has been outstanding, heading up both the goalscoring and assist lists in the Premier League this season, but it is Guardiola's City who remain top of the table that really matters. And the Blues boss made that point with a tongue in cheek poke at his Merseyside rival.
Asked his thoughts on the Egypt international's triumph, Guardiola said: "Congratulations to Salah" and when asked whether he felt one of his own player might have been a better choice, said: "Absolutely not, ours were not in contention."
And when pressed on it, he added: "He won it before - congrats to Salah. Jurgen says they have the best keeper, defender, midfielder, strikers so it’s normal for them to win the award!"
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