Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric are equals, according to Egypt coach Javier Aguirre.
Salah's impressive debut season at Liverpool received many plaudits as well as accolades, including 2017-18 Premier League Player of the Year.
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Weeks ago, the Champions League finalist was beaten to Uefa Men’s Best Player of the Year award by Modric, with Ronaldo coming second. And the trio, with other nominees, are up again for Fifa’s The Best 2018 men’s player award.
The Pharaohs new coach sees them as equals, and hopes Salah becomes the second African player ever to lift the prestigious award.
“I think that the three players are equal, none of them is above the other, but there can be only one winner. Hopefully, it’ll be Salah,” Aguirre told EFE.
This season, Salah, who broke the Premier League record with 32 goals, has barely kicked on from his awe-inspiring debut campaign at Liverpool.
But his national team coach believes it is a phase not strange to prolific goalscorers like Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
“This is just the beginning. The scorers go through streaks, suddenly they score three goals in one match.
“Scorers like Salah, Ronaldo or (Lionel) Messi can be three or four games without a netting goal, and then they let go.”
Salah and his Liverpool teammates open their Uefa Champions League campaign with a clash against Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield on Tuesday evening.