Champions League final: Mohamed Salah 'definitely' the best player in the world as Liverpool chase their dreams in Kiev

The Egyptian will get the chance to test himself against the very best when the Reds face defending European champions Real Madrid this weekend

Simon Hughes
Anfield
Monday 21 May 2018 13:53 BST
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Liverpool train at Anfield ahead of Champions League final

“Definitely,” said Dejan Lovren without hesitation, when he was asked whether Mohamed Salah is the best player in the world at the moment.

If the Egyptian contributes towards Liverpool fc winning the Champions League on Saturday then surely, he takes this year’s Ballon d’Or title as well? “I spoke to Mo about that,” Lovren replied, revealing individual possibilities in this Liverpool team are being discussed as well as collective.

“It is still quite an early stage but if we win that definitely he is one of the contenders. He can be top three. He has the quality, the experience already. He is so calm, a man down to earth and he deserves every credit and definitely we will help him achieve this dream.”

Dreams was a theme in this press conference at Anfield.

“It is a dream come true for everyone,” Lovren began, when asked about their date with Real Madrid in Kiev. “I always dreamed to be in the Champions League and I dreamed one day to lift the trophy. We have the biggest chance in our lives. For some of us, the only one, for some many more hopefully but we need to be proud of ourselves.

“We did a great job from the beginning, the play-off against Hoffenheim and we really deserve to be in the final, and hopefully in many years we can say to our kids and family that we did our best and won the trophy. We have nothing to lose. We can’t wait to start.”

Liverpool trained at Anfield on Monday

Lovren was sitting next to Sadio Mané and between them, there was a united front. When Mané was asked about the abilities of the forwards around him, he referred back to the defence – the significance of figures like Lovren. When Lovren was asked about his own development, he spread praise elsewhere.

“It is one of the more important games in our career,” Mané said. “It will not be easy. They have experience and qualities for the team and we respect them a lot but also have the players to beat any team in the world. We will go to try and cause them as many problems as we can.”

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