Klopp's original 'Egyptian King' he told was "better than Mo Salah" 100 times

Jurgen Klopp rightly hailed Mohamed Salah as one of the best players in the world following his stunning exploits for Liverpool against Manchester City.

In a pulsating encounter with the Premier League champions, it was once again left to the Egyptian to drive his team forward.

Shortly after the break, Salah picked up the ball and found Sadio Mane with a perfectly weighted through ball to put the Reds in front.

But that was only a prologue for what was to follow as the forward scored a goal that will be spoken of for years by anyone who witnessed it.

It's simply the latest star turn for a player who is now generally considered as one of the greatest to be currently playing.

Mohamed Zidan played under Klopp at both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may have the edge when it comes to longevity, but in the five-and-a-bit seasons Salah has had at Anfield, few have been better than the man named 'the Egyptian King' by the Kop.

But it's perhaps his transformation that has made his story all the more remarkable after being deemed surplus to requirements by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Back then, even Klopp couldn't have predicted what the winger would become and during the Liverpool boss' time in Germany, he felt he already had a player better than him.

Mohamed Zidan, like Salah has done for the last half decade, carried the weight of expectation of the Egyptian national team.

And it was under Klopp where he enjoyed his finest hour, firstly when he almost helped Mainz secure survival against the odds, before joining the German at Borussia Dortmund 12 months later.

At the Signal Iduna in 2008/09, Zidan was part of the Dortmund team which won the Bundesliga for the first time since 2002.

Zidan admitted he could never match Mohamed Salah's workrate

And the striker, who bounced around German football for the majority of his career, revealed that as motivation, Klopp would regularly tell him that he was better than his compatriot.

"Klopp told me that I was better than Salah 100 hundred times but I needed to be more professional," Zidan told ON Sport in January 2020.

"Klopp said to me that I have a great talent and skills but I need to concentrate more. If I did this I could be one of the best players in the world."

Klopp recently labelled Salah as a "goal machine" and likened him to Robert Lewandowski ( Image:

John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

However, Zidan admitted that he was miles behind Klopp's current talisman when it comes to his attitude and work rate in training.

"I had to be more dedicated to training and be more professional to reach Salah's level in the past," he continued.

"Salah is more professional than me and more dedicated to football like Ronaldo and Messi."

Comparisons with Ronaldo and Messi are likely to continue flooding in for a player that has got everything out of every ounce of talent he possesses.

Years on, there's little question who Klopp would rate more highly and if you ask the Kop there is definitely only one Egyptian King.