Thierry Henry has passed over Mohammed Salah as his top choice for the Ballon d’Or, preferring a LaLiga star.

Salah is a top contender for the annual award after a remarkable season with Liverpool. The Egyptian forward is having the finest season of his career, with 32 goals and 22 assists in all competitions for the Reds. Salah’s outstanding performance has helped Liverpool take a 15-point lead over closest rivals Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table. The 32-year-old is seven points ahead of Erling Haaland in the battle for the Premier League golden boot, having scored 27 goals, while he is three short of Henry and Kevin De Bruyne’s joint assist record of 20.

The former Arsenal and Barcelona forward believes Raphinha is now ahead of Salah in the race. Raphinha, who joined Barcelona from Leeds in 2022, has 27 goals and 19 assists this season. The Brazilian attacker leads this season’s Champions League with 11 goals, while Salah has three. Henry cited Raphinha’s success in Europe, with Barcelona reaching to the quarter-finals, as well as Salah and Harry Kane’s goal totals, which have been enhanced by penalties. Salah has 11 penalty goals this season, compared to Raphinha’s one in all competitions.

Raphinha, when people talk about being a complete striker, they mean knowing how to put pressure on opponents, defend, and assist your full back. And he has everything.’ While Salah and Liverpool were eliminated from the last 16 on penalties by PSG on Tuesday night, Raphinha scored twice to help Barcelona defeat Benfica 4-1 on aggregate and advance to the last eight. Barcelona now awaits the victors of the last-16 match between Borussia Dortmund and Lille. Salah will attempt to help Liverpool recover from their Champions League exit when they meet Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

During their match against Fulham on Sunday, the Premier League issued a statement to explain why the video assistant referee (VAR) did not enable Manchester United to score a late goal.

Amad Diallo believed that he had scored the game-winning goal for Ruben Amorim’s team in the 94th minute, while they were leading 1-0 courtesy to Lisandro Martinez’s deflected attempt when the goal was scored.

After playing a wonderful one-two with Joshua Zirkzee, the Ivorian player then sent a low strike beneath Bernd Leno in the final minute of stoppage time.

Nevertheless, after observing an incident in the buildup to the goal at Stockley Park, the video assistant referee, Jarred Gillett, and the video assistant referee, Darren Cann, reviewed the goal.

After that, the goal was disallowed by the referee, Anthony Taylor, and United was able to maintain their grasp on the ball in order to clinch a crucial three points at Craven Cottage.

The Premier League has also stated that Amad’s goal against the 23-year-old was disallowed because of offside. Replays have shown that Amad’s shoulder was slightly ahead of Timothy Castagne, which led to the goal being disallowed.

The following message was sent on their official Match Centre account on X (which was then known as Twitter): “Amad’s goal was initially awarded on the pitch to him.” After conducting an investigation, the video assistant referee (VAR) determined that Amad was in an offside position during the buildup, and he suggested that the goal be disallowed.

During his post-match interview, Amorim did not discuss the goal that was disallowed; rather, he concentrated on commenting on the performance of his side in west London.

Following the cancellation of Amad’s late goal and the goal-line clearing made by Toby Collyer, Amorim expressed his satisfaction with his team’s tenacity in achieving just their third victory away from home this season.

Having this sensation when away from home is something that is quite significant. Very strong support from our fans who are away. According to the Portuguese player, “It was not a great game, and there were no great chances.”

We made an effort to play our game, but we have a lot of room for improvement. We are in possession of the final outcome, and we have already won the game; it is of the utmost importance to win at this point.

In addition, he stated that the clean sheet was “really important because it is obvious that you are getting closer to winning games, and it gives you confidence.” Today, we did not experience a great deal of suffering, which is a positive indicator. We put in a goal, and now we are moving on to the next game.

In the meanwhile, Amad was unable to score his tenth goal of the season, Rasmus Hojlund was unable to add to his two goals, and Joshua Zirkzee did not do much during his cameo appearance off the bench.

Amorim, who will turn 40 tomorrow, was not under any illusions about the areas in which his team has to improve. He continued by saying, “Even in the second half, we changed things, and we lack some pace and power in front, but it is what it is.”

If we want to have more opportunities, we need to have more ball. We have a lot of trouble with these particulars. We are able to make significant progress when we are successful.

Following that, on Thursday, United will travel to Romania to compete against FCSB in the Europa League. On February 1, they will then play host to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

Despite the fact that the authority responsible for judging games in English professional association football defended the decision on Sunday, Arsenal is anticipated to appeal the dismissal, which comes in the midst of significant criticism of Oliver’s judgement.

In the vicinity of the Wolves box, Lewis-Skelly committed a foul on Matt Doherty, which resulted in his dismissal.

The verdict was “checked and confirmed” by Darren England, and the video assistant referee (VAR) determined that Lewis-Skelly had committed “serious foul play.”

PGMOL issued a statement in response to the online abuse received at Michael Oliver, which stated as follows: “We are appalled by the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver following the Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Arsenal fixture’s conclusion.”

“There should be no official who is subjected to any kind of harassment, let alone the heinous insults that have been directed at Michael and his family over the course of the last twenty-four hours.

The authorities are aware of the situation, and they have begun a variety of enquiries about it. Michael, along with all those who have been impacted, has our full support, and we are resolute in our commitment to address this reprehensible activity.

When it comes to threats, however, this is not the first occasion in recent years that a match official has been obliged to deal with them. Each and every inquiry will continue to get our assistance.

Referees are prone to making errors, according to Redknapp.

“I have had conversations with a few professionals and past referees, and they have all agreed that it was a problematic tackle. It was believed that the player had been shown a red card, and it was possible that he had twisted his ankle and been out of action for a few weeks. They had the impression that he was putting an adversary in peril, and not only preventing the counterattack.

To clarify, he did manage to get him on the ankle, so it is not a very difficult task. Let’s get that straight. On the other hand, he does not in any way merit that behaviour. It’s possible that he would be the first to admit that he could have bought himself a little bit of time, but officials are just as susceptible to making mistakes as football players are. That’s the way life is.

On the other hand, if we are approaching to the point where every error would be considered corruption, then we are in a very precarious position. There is still a lot of debate on the VAR.

“I cannot believe Michael Oliver has sent Lewis-Skelly off there,” stated Tim Sherwood, a commentator for Sky Sports, during the Soccer Saturday broadcast.

After the match, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports, “It is that clear, and I will leave it to you guys.” this was spoken after the game. ‘I am completely raging with rage. However, I will decide to leave it up to you because it is so evident that I do not believe that my comments will be of any assistance.

The view taken by PGMOL on the event is that the challenge is extremely late, the point of contact is high, and video evidence supports the conclusion that this challenge is extremely late.

Joao Gomes, a midfielder for Wolves, was only awarded a yellow card for a high and late tackle on Jurrien Timber during the second half of Arsenal’s victory over Wolves.

Though Gomes was shown a red card, the fact that he was taken out of the game for two bookings means that he will only be absent for one of the matches.