Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been ranking and rating some of the best left footed players in football history.
Some of the game’s all-time greats have been left-footed.
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest of all-time, and he’s a lefty, Diego Maradona is a legend of the game, and he was a left-footer, while Mohamed Salah has been in Ballon d’Or winning form this season.
Speaking to L’Equipe, Salah has been asked to rank some of the best left footers of all-time, and, in doing so, he made an interesting claim about one former Manchester United player.
Indeed, Salah heaped praise upon Angel Di Maria during this challenge, picking him ahead of some greats of the game.
Mohamed Salah hails Angel Di Maria
Salah was asked to pick between some of the greatest left-footed players of all-time.
The Egyptian had some tough choices to make, and while Lionel Messi was his ultimate winner, he had some special praise for Angel Di Maria.
Indeed, Salah picked Di Maria ahead of the likes of Mesut Ozil, Arjen Robben, and perhaps most interestingly, Gareth Bale.
Di Maria and Bale were, of course, teammates at Real Madrid for a short period of time, but as Bale grew into the team at the Bernabeu, Di Maria was sold to Manchester United.
The Argentine would spend just one season in Manchester before making a £44m move to PSG.
Di Maria is a great of the game, but it didn’t quite work out for him at Old Trafford.
Angel Di Maria compared to Gareth Bale
Salah picked Di Maria over Bale – the opposite of the decision Real Madrid made back in 2014.
This is something of an eternal debate as the call to ditch Di Maria in Madrid was very controversial at the time.
Looking at the two players’ career stats, it’s tough to pick between them.
Gareth Bale | Angel Di Maria | |
553 | Club games | 806 |
185 | Club goals | 193 |
132 | Club assists | 276 |
111 | International games | 145 |
41 | International goals | 31 |
66 | Champions League games | 116 |
20 | Champions League goals | 24 |
21 | Most league goals in a season | 12 |
3 | League titles | 6 |
5 | Champions League wins | 1 |
0 | World Cup wins | 1 |
Bale has a better record in terms of goals per game, but Di Maria has the longevity over Bale.
The Welshman has had more success in the Champions League over the years, scoring in numerous finals, but, Di Maria is also a Champions League winner, while he won a World Cup, scoring in the final for Argentina.
Ultimately, it’s very difficult to choose between these two players, but given how Bale thrived in the Premier League and Di Maria struggled at United, the former Tottenham man may just have the edge in this debate.