Cameroonian retired professional footballer Eto’o, has blamed Africans for letting Senegalese professional footballer Sadio Mane’s loose Ballon D’or to Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi won the 2019 Ballon d’or while Mane came fourth in the Ballon d’or voting after enjoying an impressive year in which he won the champion league and helped Liverpool to second in the league, his work rate and skills have also been lauded by football analysts and fans worldwide but Eto’o a former Messi teammate feels Africans let their own brother down.
“If Sadio Mane won it and was on the podium, no one was going to complain because he deserves it and has been doing well and he had the best season,” Eto’o said as per IOL.
“Messi (Lionel) won because all the South Americans voted for him. I think the Europeans also voted for Virgil Van Dijk hence he was the runner-up.”
“Africans didn’t vote for Mane. That’s the big problem. African people have problems with other African people.
“We, as Africans, are letting ourselves down. We need to unite if we are serious about ending the dominance of the Europeans and the South Americans in the race to be crowned the best players in the world.”
George Weah of Liberia remains the only African to have won the award.
