Ronaldo is unique but Salah is ‘on fire’ – OGS

MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he would always back Cristiano Ronaldo to score goals but conceded yesterday that Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is in the form of his life ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League derby at Old Trafford.

Salah leads the Premier League goal scoring charts with seven goals and also has four assists in eight games while he also has five strikes in the Champions League.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did not want to compare the two forwards earlier yesterday but Solskjaer praised Salah and also his teammates on the frontline Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota.

“I’ll always back Cristiano in any competition, he’s unique and his goalscoring record is fantastic but that being said, Salah is on fire,” Solskjaer told reporters.

“You see some of the goals he’s scored lately, we know we have to be at our best to defend against him. Players like him don’t come along very often. We have to enjoy these players from afar not Sunday, that’s too close.

“Not just him, I’m a big admirer of their frontline for many, many years. Mane, Firmino, maybe Jota will play. They are players you should be focused on for 95 minutes to keep a clean sheet.”

Liverpool are the only unbeaten team in the league this season and have scored at least three goals in each of their last eight away games in all competitions.

“They’re on a great run of form, some individual skills that you cannot almost defend against but as a team, we have to be compact and aggressive,” Solskjaer added.

“It’s going to take everything to get results against one of the best teams in Europe, in the world. Liverpool are one of those teams at the moment.

“What they’ve done the last four years is what we’re striving towards … We ended up above them last season, they had a bad spell with injuries last year but are now back to their best.”

Solskjaer said two or three players will be given time to prove their fitness for tomorrow’s clash after suffering “knocks and bruises” in the midweek

Champions League victory over Atalanta, adding playmaker Bruno Fernandes is a doubt.

“We’ll give everyone time, we might have the whole squad back fit … Yes, Bruno might be a doubt but he’s doing everything he can to be ready,” Solskjaer said.

Meanwhile, Klopp said United are an exceptional team and their midweek comeback win over Atalanta in the Champions League showed they have the quality to cause any team problems.

Former United midfielder and television pundit Paul Scholes suggested Klopp, whose side visit Old Trafford tomorrow, may have been “rubbing his hands together” at halftime after watching their first-half performance, but the German manager said that was not the case.

“I wasn’t rubbing my hands watching that game, there was no reason for it. Atalanta caused United some problems but even in the first half, United had three clear-cut chances,” Klopp told reporters.

“The second half was a pure power presentation of United going for it. With the quality they have, they can cause any team problems.

“We are long enough together to know we’re up against a really good team and it’s an away game as well for us.”

Klopp said midfielder Curtis Jones had returned to training and could be in contention to play but Thiago Alcantara has still not fully recovered from a calf problem. | Reuters