Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has given a long interview to ESPN Brasil this week.
Full of smiles and showing a great mood, as is so often the case, the Egyptian international first talked a little about Brazilian football and his favourite player from the country.
“Oh yeah, favourite Brazilian player, Ronaldo, of course,” Salah told João Castello Branco from ESPN Brasil. “I think it’s so difficult to have a striker and see a striker like Ronaldo. His skill, his speed, intelligence… he has everything. The way he used to play, the football was completely different than other players, so Ronaldo will always be something different.”
Regarding his attacking partner Roberto Firmino, Salah says the striker isn’t much of a chatter, but the important thing is that they get along well, both on and off the pitch.
“I think I look Brazilian also (laughs). He sits next to me in the games, dressing room, so we talk. He doesn’t talk much, he doesn’t speak English, he doesn’t talk much with the players, but we talk together maybe everyday. In the game, I think we’ve been playing together for one year, he gave me most assists in the team, I gave him the same, we play close to each other, we know how to play. I think that football players, when they play with each other, they know how to play, doesn’t matter the language, doesn’t matter how to talk with each other, but we know each other, we expect the moves from each others.”
On the Premier League title race, Salah claims it’s ‘his dream’ to win the competition, and says he knows the importance it would have to Liverpool fans.
“We just need to be calm and play football. Of course there’s a pressure, because you’re human being, you feel that, you want to win the Premier League, something huge for the club, for the city, for the fans everywhere. But we just need to win the games.”
“It’s a dream. To be honest, that’s one of my dreams when I came here, to win the Premier League, I said that last season. You have maybe the people saying he’s crazy’ but it was in my mind always to come here and win the Premier League. Now we’re close. I hope we’re going to win it, we’re going to do our best to win it.”
Salah was also asked about the pressure of being a foreign Muslim player trying to win the league in a time of a tense political mood in the UK. He explained he’s happy representing his people.
“Honestly, it is. I came from the Egypt, from the Middle East, everyone knows how big you are, it’s more responsibility, it’s more pressure. But I don’t need to change myself. I just need to take care of everything I do in my life, because now everyone looks up to you, like, you’re a model, so I’m not complaining about that, it’s something that makes me happy.”
Salah has the rather big task of facing Manchester United at Old Trafford this weekend, and a win for Liverpool will be a serious boost to the Merseyside club’s hopes of winning the Premier League title.
It will be a pressure match, and the Reds will looks to Salah. He’s used to the spotlight.
