Mohamed Salah doesn’t need Lionel Messi to ‘dominate’ in training at Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp knows why

Lionel Messi is the greatest football player of all time. There is a feeling that this year could be his last Ballon d’Or win, but someone else would need to join in and win it eight times to qualify for such a title.

It’s unlucky for this generation of world-class players to have such a player. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk missed out on the Ballon d’Or by seven votes to Messi, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski in the crosshairs of Messi and Christie The Arnold era never won the top prize. Ronaldo dominated.

Oddly, Mohamed Salah has never finished higher than fifth, but there is certainly a feeling at Liverpool that he is another deserving potential winner in Jurgen Klopp’s squad. He is five years younger than Messi, almost spanning two generations in football, and still hopes his autumn will bring him the sport’s highest individual honor.

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But there is at least one area where Salah is already ahead of Messi. A recent revelation from a former Barcelona teammate highlights the difference.

Messi during the Barcelona era was the highest level a footballer has ever reached, so it would be crazy to question any of his methods during that time. But the training “rules” revealed by current Nice defender Jean-Claire Todibo are indeed a bit surprising.

“At Barcelona, ​​they don’t allow us to touch Messi in training. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. We have to be careful,” he told Ligue 1 Show (via Mundo Deportivo).

“It’s normal, he’s the best and you don’t want to hurt him. It’s logical.”

In a sense, this is just further proof of Messi’s talent. Not only does he deserve such special treatment, but he cuts through La Liga defenses every weekend despite clearly going through the week without having to worry about facing any tackles.

Many opponents use physical contact to try to stop Messi. But while he is protected by Barcelona’s rules in training, he is able to step up and resist this behavior in games and make an impact against even the most ferocious of challengers.

But Klopp never had to worry about wrapping Salah in cotton wool in this way. Like all other mortals, the Egyptian cannot possess the dazzling heights of Messi, but few players are as good as the Liverpool star while possessing such pinpoint consistency and availability.

Messi has not had a particularly notable number of injuries in his long career, but has still missed a total of 162 games due to various setbacks (Transfermarkt). Salah has been on the decline throughout his career but has only missed 26 games. In terms of his time at Liverpool, concussion and coronavirus accounted for 2 of the 3 games he missed.

Klopp certainly doesn’t underestimate this quality of his talisman. By keeping him in the Europa League, the coach seems to have accepted that Salah doesn’t need the same management as other players and he is surprised by the 31-year-old’s condition.

“He’s not like other 31-year-olds,” Klopp praised, via Sky Sports in October. “I think if you scanned him, you would find that most of the bones were probably 19 or 20 pieces.”

One thing is for sure: Klopp won’t be enforcing Barcelona’s rules anytime soon. While Messi may never be dethroned as the best player of all time, Liverpool want Salah to have at least one Ballon d’Or before hanging up his boots.