“I never thought about that, why should we compare? Both are world-class players, that’s how it is,” Jürgen Klopp replied when asked about the similarities between Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo in his pre-match press conference before Liverpool famously thrashed Manchester United 5-0 in October 2021.
“I would say even when Ronaldo’s left foot isn’t that bad, Mo’s left foot is probably better, Cristiano may be better in the air and with his right foot. Speed-wise, both are pretty quick and desperate to score goals, maybe that’s it.” Others, probably those who weren’t preoccupied with more important matters, might have approached the question with greater enthusiasm, but it was always going to be a difficult comparison to mistake. That version of Salah was in the form of his life, while Ronaldo was winding down towards the end of his career at the very highest level, even if he himself hadn’t accepted it at the time.
Ronaldo had two stints at Manchester United but the only thing that united them was the number on the back of his shirt. In the first instance, he was an electrifying winger known for his trickery, while in the second, he was a pure penalty-box poacher who was otherwise largely anonymous.
One way we can chart the evolution of the Portuguese from tricky wide man to robotic assassin is by looking at his dribbling numbers. WhoScored has the data from the 2009 season onwards, his first year at Real Madrid following what was a world-record move, and you can break the next 14 campaigns into distinct chunks.
