27 November 2023 , 07:51
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Mohamed Salah has steered clear of getting involved in the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo debate by naming both as dream team-mates.
Salah is one of the biggest stars in the Premier League, having racked up 198 goals and 84 assists in 323 games for Liverpool. The Egyptian has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup with the Reds to establish himself as a modern day great.
But despite all his goals and achievements he is still some way off entering the greatest of all time debate, which centres on long-time rivals Messi and Ronaldo. Salah is clearly a fan of both of them and would love the opportunity to play with them, or Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne.
Asked by Sky Sports to pick a dream team-mate that he’d never played with, he thought for a while before replying: "Messi or Ronaldo, but if I pick one in the Premier League then I’d choose Kevin. He has vision, I’m sure he can find me anywhere with the ball so I would say Messi, Ronaldo and then Kevin. He’s a great player, the whole [City] team is great. But I just try to play my game and not focus on anyone else."
Salah just missed out on playing with De Bruyne at Chelsea, with the Belgian midfielder leaving for Wolfsburg in 2014, just as the Egyptian arrived from Basel. Salah did not pull up trees at Chelsea, but the club has clearly had an effect on his career.
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Asked to name the best left-back he has faced, he replied: “ [Cesar] Azpilicueta was tough. I know in the end he ended up playing on the right side, but he was tough, really tough,” he said.
“I played with Ashley [Cole]. Oh my God. The way he reads the game is unbelievable. I played against him when I was at Basel. He reads the game. He was very smart. He was not the tallest, but he reads the game, he’s really tough. We played together at Chelsea and at Roma, he’s a great guy and in training he just trained. He was a professional guy and you can see by his career.”
Mohamed Salah has regularly played against Kevin De Bruyne (Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of Mohamed Salah's choices? Comment below.
And asked about how hard Dominik Szoboszlai kicks the ball, Salah also gave a shout-out to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba. “No one knows how Drogba hits the ball. It was crazy,” he said.
“When I went to Chelsea and he came six months after, the way that he hits the ball is insane. Drogba was unbelievable… He didn’t play much, but you see the way he practised was unbelievable.”