Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah amusingly interrupted an interviewer before declaring the legendary Lionel Messi to be the greatest left-footed player in the history of the game.
The Egyptian winger has enjoyed one of the standout seasons of his career to date, having led the Reds to a 20th Premier League title with his talismanic performances. The 32-year-old was named as the Football Writers’ Player of the Year after scoring a staggering 28 times in 35 appearances en route to a second top flight crown in five years.
The superstar’s legacy on Merseyside is already secure – with the Kop hero third in the club’s all-time goalscoring charts – and he penned a new two-year contract last month to end speculation over his future at Anfield. Now, the Liverpool attacker has assessed his standing among the pantheon of greats of yesteryear in the wider game.
Speaking to the official Ballon d’Or social media channel as part of an interview with France Football, Salah was asked to compare the abilities of a host of fellow left-footed forwards – before picking the best from the list. Having first indicated a preference for Ryan Giggs over James Rodriguez and Riyadh Mahrez, he then named Angel di Maria as better than the Manchester United legend.
From there, the Liverpool star then praised the Argentine as a superior talent to that of Gareth Bale, Mesut Ozil and Arjen Robben. However, Salah then earmarked Antoine Griezmann as the better player when compared with Di Maria – before naming him as superior to Hristo Stoichkov.
(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
After next declaring Rivaldo to be better than the Atletico Madrid forward, he then admitted that Diego Maradona trumps them all in terms of ability. However, Salah then settled the age old debate over whether the late World Cup winner was better than compatriot Lionel Messi – by indicating a preference for the Inter Miami star.
However, before the interviewee could even attempt to ask him whether he would see himself as better than Messi, Salah amusingly shut down his question. Laughing as he quietly dismissed the query before it could even be asked, he simply asserted: “I stay with Messi!”
The Egyptian also attracted headlines this week after declaring PSG to be the best side in Europe this season, in contrast to comments from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. The Liverpool man told L’Equipe: “I have to be honest. PSG had a very good first leg.
“We were so lucky. Alisson had the best game of his career at Liverpool. They were very unlucky.
“Then they came to Anfield and we were the ones who were unlucky because we hit the post two or three times, they saved balls on their line once or twice. So we were unlucky, too.
(Image: Robin Jones/Getty Images)
“In this match, everything was 50/50. Who deserved to qualify more? No one could say. We had a very good second leg, they had a very good first leg. And you lose on penalties… sometimes it’s your day. Sometimes it’s mine. It was their day.
“No one would say, ‘They deserved it 100 per cent!’ No. The first leg, yes. The second, no. It’s the same for us.
“The second leg, yes. The first, no. It was their day and I shook the players’ hands afterward, I said to them: ‘Congratulations, go win it!’ and that was it.
