'Mo is becoming a superstar - and he makes it look easy'
Mohamed Salah is elevating himself into the realms of football’s elite with his consistently outstanding performances, Dejan Lovren feels.
Liverpool forward Salah produced yet another irresistible display on Tuesday, as he scored twice himself before setting up goals for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in the Reds’ resounding 5-2 victory over AS Roma.
Following that Champions League semi-final first leg at Anfield, the prolific Egyptian now boasts 43 goals and 15 assists in just 47 appearances for his club this season.
That record, his teammate and friend Lovren believes, proves Salah deserves to be bracketed among the very best players in the world.
“Mo is becoming a superstar,” the centre-back said.
“It looks easy what he does, but it is very difficult. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on him and maybe this is not the right time, but if he continues like that he has every right to be regarded as one of the best three in the world at the end of the year.
“When people talk about [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi they should also talk about Salah. He deserves it, he deserves to be mentioned for the Ballon d’Or.
“At the start of the season I didn’t know he could do this, but you see how he is working, how he wants the ball, he is just a different player to what he was.
“I think our style helps him a lot. He didn’t play that way for Basel or Chelsea or Roma, but the way we can find him suits him perfectly. The most important thing now is for him to stay injury free. If he can do that, anything is possible.”
Watch Mo's Roma highlights reel
Salah’s double, along with Mane’s strike and a brace from Firmino, saw Jürgen Klopp’s team surge into a five-goal lead over Roma earlier this week.
The Serie A side struck back, though, and late goals from Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti mean they retain hope of reaching next month’s Champions League final in Kiev at Liverpool’s expense.
However, Lovren thinks the Reds can finish the job amid what he expects to be a ‘crazy’ atmosphere at Stadio Olimpico.
“I am still confident that we can score there,” the No.6 stated.
“We had so many chances, they are really open, they are a team that likes to play and that is good for us.
“They now need to score. It will be a crazy atmosphere but we played in one similar at Man City and we know what we need to do if we score quite early I think it will be a quite different.
“We just need to learn from our previous mistakes, the last 15 minutes we were tired. We have to be more controlling of the game. That is where we need to improve.
“There are many reasons behind it maybe fatigue, maybe different players, there are many reasons why but like I said I am pretty confident for the next leg.”