Salah the world’s best: Gerrard
Egyptian star feted after scoring twice and creating another two goals against Roma
Mohamed Salah had British football pundits gushing after scoring twice and assisting two more goals in Liverpool's 5-2 Champions League semi-final first-leg win over AS Roma at Anfield yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Roberto Firmino matched that haul with Sadio Mane also finding the net, before late goals by Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti gave the Italian side a glimmer of hope ahead of the second leg next week.
Salah has now scored 43 goals for Liverpool since his £34 million (S$62.8 million) move from Roma last June, more than any other player in Europe.
The Egyptian's exploits have led Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard to call the 25-year-old undoubtedly the world's best footballer.
He told BT Sport: "It's difficult to compare him to your Ronaldos and Messis because they've done it for so long and they've been consistent year in, year out.
"But without a shadow of a doubt he's the best player on the planet right now."
His former England colleague Rio Ferdinand agreed, telling BT Sport: "There isn't anyone on the pitch he feels can stop him, nobody can seem to contain him... I've run out of words to describe the way this guy is performing this year...
"He's got to be regarded as, form-wise, one of, if not the, best player on the planet at the moment."
While that remains just an opinion, former Leicester City midfielder Robbie Savage believes Salah deserves to cement his status as the world's best player by winning the Ballon d'Or.
BALLON D'OR
After the Egyptian's second goal yesterday, the ex-Wales international told the BBC: "You've got to give him the Ballon d'Or. He is that good."
However, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp believes his star attacker needs to deliver the goods over a longer period to be considered the world's elite player.
He said: "He is in outstandingly good shape, in world-class shape, 100 per cent.
"To be the best in the world you need to do that over a longer period, I think."
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the debate over the sport's best player but Ian Wright believes that should Liverpool win the Champions League with Salah playing a starring role, the 25-year-old can be the first player since 2007 to break the duo's Ballon d'Or dominance.
He told the Sky Sports: "Depending on what Liverpool do in the Champions League, if they do go on and win it, when you look at Cristiano Ronaldo, he's saved much of his best work for the Champions League.
"He's won the Ballon d'Or a couple of times, and not just for those reasons, but if Mo Salah keeps on doing what he's doing, he's not only in the conversation, he's got a very good chance of winning it."
While the Reds' performance makes them genuine Champions League contenders, former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown believes Klopp's "crazy band of football" may eventually catch up with them.
He wrote in his Daily Mail column: "Klopp's brand of football is so crazy, so relentless that Liverpool are always prone to making the kind of errors that let Roma back into this tie.
"The Italians were on the canvas but individual Liverpool mistakes handed them a lifeline."
It's a sentiment Reds fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold seemed to agree with, telling Liverpool's official website: "Maybe in the last 10 or 15 minutes our concentration let us down a little bit. The five goals were good but at the end we've come away disappointed.
"We've conceded two and given them a bit of a chance. We should have been more ruthless and put the tie to bed with the five goals."
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