The 65th annual ceremony of the Ballon d’Or will be taking place on November 29 and many footballers have been tipped for the prestigious honour.
The likes of Lionel Messi, Lewandowski and Chelsea duo N’golo Kante and Jorginho were the early favourites to win the award but face late competition from Karim Benzema and Mohamed Salah.
Matthaus does not believe Salah stands the chance of winning the Ballon d’Or as he thinks he was not consistent throughout the year.
“What Klopp’s superstar Salah has been delivering for a few months is of course, absolutely world-class,” he wrote for Sky Sports.
“It is quite possible that this will help him a lot in his choice of world footballer. But that was not the case for the whole year.
“In the spring, he and Liverpool had serious problems. Candidate Jorginho from Chelsea has been convincing for almost the entire last season and played a key role in winning the Champions League and the European Championship with Italy.”
The German hopes Lewandowski wins the first Ballon d’Or of his career. However, he believes there are no certain favourites this year.
“He’s not as spectacular as Lewandowski, whom I personally keep my fingers crossed for the most.” he added. “This time, however, he lacks the international title. Messi won the Copa America with Argentina, but achieved nothing great with Barcelona.
“There are no top favourites.”
