Liverpool and Egypt striker Mohamed Salah has been named the winner of the African Footballer’s 2018 BBC Trophy by football fans. He won this trophy for the second time in a row.

He is ahead of Medhi Benatia, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sadio Mané and Thomas Partey.

“It’s a great feeling,” Salah told BBC Sport.

“I would love to win next year too, I’m so happy to win the prize.”

At 26, the winner scored the two Egyptian goals in the World Cup, or 40% of his historic total at the tournament. The Premier League player of the year scored 44 goals in 52 games for Liverpool last season and helped them reach the Champions League final.

“At every moment, I feel like scoring goals, helping the team get the points to be at the top of the standings, it’s always a great feeling.”

The BBC has received more than 650,000 votes this year, a record for the award. The former Chelsea player signed for the Roma Reds in the summer of 2017. He scored 15 goals and 11 goals for the Rome club, who finished second in Serie A, his best ranking in seven years.

The start of his career in Liverpool was phenomenal, scoring 19 goals in all competitions in his first 24 appearances. He then broke the previous record of 31 goals in 38 Premier League matches shared between Luis Suarez in 2013-14, Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-08 and Alan Shearer in 1995-96.

Mohamed Barakat (2005) and Mohamed Aboutrika (2008) are the other Egyptians who won the prize.