After all, Jürgen Klopp's side had endured a miserable 2024/23 season, failing to qualify for the Champions League and exiting 6️⃣ the competition at the round of 16 stage with a heavy 6-2 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid. While these are 6️⃣ ostensibly individual awards, they are almost always viewed through the prism of collective accomplishment, and so Liverpool's broader failures were 6️⃣ costly for some of its better players.

On Wednesday, the shortlist was released for another of football's most prestigious prizes — 6️⃣ a place in the FIFPro World XI — and again only one Liverpool player made the cut. This time, it 6️⃣ was Virgil van Dijk rather than Salah.

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The first thing to understand here 6️⃣ is that, while it's ostensibly a calendar year award, the best XI is in practice determined by the last complete 6️⃣ season. That's why, for instance, Kevin De Bruyne has been nominated, despite hardly kicking a ball since June because of 6️⃣ injury.