Despite insisting that FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is the best player he has ever seen, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp does not believe he deserved to win the 2019 Ballon d'Or.
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The 32-year-old Argentine picked up his sixth Golden Ball in Paris on Monday night, beating the likes Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to the prestigious accolade.
Klopp, however, believes his Dutch defender may have been a more worthy winner of the prize, even though the German manager also feels the Blaugrana forward is the best footballer he has ever seen.
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"Things like this are decisions made by journalists," he said, according to International Business Times.
"I see it slightly different and a lot of people see it slightly different, but that's absolutely no problem.
"Lionel Messi, I've said probably 500 000 times in my life already, is probably the best player I saw in my lifetime.
"Very early in my life, I saw Franz Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona, but I've seen Lionel Messi more.
"I don't know how the others would have played nowadays – probably exceptional – but Lionel Messi is here now, and he has won it six times, and Cristiano (Ronaldo) five times, but last season I cannot remember a more impressive season from a defender ever.
"Honestly. So it would have been right if Virg won it.
"I heard it was pretty close. As a group of players, we won the Champions League, played an outstanding season and got 97 points, and people see that as well because we cannot do that without performing players, so I am really happy for them.
"It is nice, but it is last season, so I think pretty much now all the awards are done and the boys can go for new ones."
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Klopp had four Liverpool players in the final 10 in the Ballon d'Or ranking, with Van Dijk in at second, Sadio Mane in at fourth, Mohamed Salah in at fifth and Alisson Becker in at seventh.
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