Mohamed Salah kickstarted his 2020/21 Premier League season in style on Saturday evening.Liverpool's Egyptian King scored the first hat-trick of the new English campaign to help the Reds defeat Leeds 4-3 at Anfield.It was a wonderful performance from the former Chelsea man and yet more evidence that he's now without question one of the top 10 players in world football.On the Monday Night Football, Manchester United legend Gary Neville waxed lyrical about Salah and compared him to ex-Red Devils star Cristiano Ronaldo."I look at him [Salah] as somewhat of an outsider, and I’m someone who’s looking and thinking, he is an absolute killer on the pitch," Neville said.
"It reminds me of the twin tracking of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in the mid-2000s when they were both so close. That’s where Salah and Mane are."Comparisons with Ronaldo and Rooney in their prime? That's the level Liverpool's attacking stars are at these days and the praise is more than warranted.But now that the comparison between Salah and Ronaldo has been made, it begs the question - which player has the superior stats in the Premier League?Well, you're about to find out. Below, we've collected the goal and assist numbers from Salah's three full league seasons with Liverpool, along with the stats from Ronaldo's best three campaigns in England's top-flight with United.
Mohamed Salah
2017/18
Goals: 32
Assists: 10
2018/19
Goals: 22
Assists: 8
2019/20
Goals: 19
Assists: 10
Total
Goals: 73
Assists: 28
Cristiano Ronaldo
2007/08
Goals: 31
Assists: 6
2008/09
Goals: 18
Assists: 6
2006/07
Goals: 17
Assists: 8
Total:
Goals: 66
Assists: 20
It's close, but Salah just edges Ronaldo in both categories.
Both players' finest seasons in the Premier League will forever be remembered as two of the greatest ever in the long history of English football.
Salah's tally of 32 goals in 2017/18 is a record in a 38-game season, eclipsing Ronaldo's 31-goal haul in 2007/08 - the campaign which won the Portuguese his first Ballon d'Or.
The aforementioned stats were in no way intended to demean the achievements of Ronaldo at United, but more to highlight just how good Salah has been at Liverpool.
After just three years on Merseyside, the Egyptian is already a Premier League legend and it's now time to label the 28-year-old as the Reds' finest attacking player of the modern era.