KIEV: For once in a Champions League final, Cristiano Ronaldo will yield some of the spotlight to another player sweeping up adulation and personal acclaim.
While five-time world player of the year Ronaldo is chasing a record fifth Champions League triumph, and fourth with Real Madrid, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is chasing a first. Not just a first Champions League success, but a first major title in football in his maiden cup final.
Victory in Kiev’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday would be a fitting climax to an astonishing debut season at Liverpool for Salah. A season when the Egyptian seized his second chance at a Premier League club with gusto after a faltering spell at Chelsea.
Salah has had such a devastating impact that he poses a serious threat to the decade of dominance of the world player of the year award by Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
“I spoke to Mo about that … if we win definitely he is one of the contenders,” Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren said. “He has the quality, the world-class experience already. He is so calm, a man down to earth.”
While lacking the flashy touch of Ronaldo, and presenting the image of a more modest lifestyle on social media, the “Egyptian King” is as adept at harnessing his commercial appeal. In recent weeks, Salah could be found at news conferences promoting a cellphone company, a logistics firm and taxi service. No wonder Salah is making the most of his newly-elevated status in the global game. In 2014, when Ronaldo reached the first of his four Champions League finals with Madrid, Salah was just completing his first five months drifting in and out of the Chelsea team.
Salah never settled and was eventually discarded by the west London club after only 13 appearances under Jose Mourinho. In Italy, a career-stalling was reignited at Roma and Liverpool came calling last year.
Few could have imagined Salah’s impact, powering the five-time European champions to their first Champions League final in 11 years with 11 goals in a run that began in the playoff round. Ronaldo eclipsed Salah in the competition with 15 goals after starting out in the group stage.
But both Salah and Ronaldo stand locked on 44 goals for the season in all competitions heading into the final. So potent is the 33-year-old Ronaldo, he only required 43 games. Salah, who is eight years younger, played eight more than the Portuguese.
“He’s the best,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said of Ronaldo, “and he proves it every year.” Particularly in Europe, where Ronaldo is the all-time leading Champions League scorer with 120 goals. Real Madrid is seeking a record-extending 13th European club title.
“When you’re at this club you cannot take your foot off the gas, least of all in this competition,” Ronaldo said. “I love that side of it because it motivates me a lot.”
While Real and Liverpool are contesting the biggest prize in club football, they were far off the pace in their home leagues.
Third in the Premier League still represented progress for Liverpool under Juergen Klopp, who previously finished sixth, eighth and fourth.
But Real regressed in La Liga, surrendering its title with a third-place finish. For a manager who has won the Champions League three times in the last four years, it might take retaining the European Cup for Zidane to keep his job.
“I am always calm because that’s in my nature,” Zidane said.
Klopp’s grip on the Liverpool job will not be impacted by Saturday’s result but victory would put the brakes on a run of five cup finals losses, including in the 2013 Champions League decider to Bayern Munich while Borussia Dortmund manager.
“I know how I lost the finals, it didn’t change my life,” said Klopp, a two-time Bundesliga champion with Dortmund. “It’s not that I wake up every morning and think, ‘Wow. That was a big chance.’”
