FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi walked away with a record sixth Ballon d'Or earlier this month, but one of his former teammates has now claimed that Sadio Mane deserved to win the award more.
Former Barca midfielder Yaya Toure was speaking as a guest of FIFA at the Club World Cup in Doha, Qatar, when he shared his view that Mane should have won this year's Golden Ball ahead of his former colleague.
"To be honest, he (Mane) deserved to win the Ballon d'Or first," the former Ivory Coast international said, as reported by the Daily Mirror.
"In Africa, we don't see any better players than him.
"Did you see the votes? Did you see what he did in the last year, how many goals he scored, what he achieved with Liverpool?
"For me, it is a shame when a team wins this trophy (the Champions League) and the winner of the Ballon d'Or is not coming from there."
Mane ultimately ended fourth in the voting polls for the award, behind Messi, teammate Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.
