Salah and Mahrez.. The competition expands in the “new era” in England
After the Egyptian Mohamed Salah obtained a new contract with Liverpool
to continue with the English team until 2025, Manchester City awarded its
Algerian player, Riyad Mahrez, a contract for the same period.
The title of “Pride of the Arabs” required the Egyptian-Algerian duo, with every
achievement or coronation in Europe, Salah excels in individual titles, winning
the European Champions League title, while Riyad Mahrez won more titles in England.
The competition continues
Mohamed Salah won the English Golden Boot award after being crowned the Premier League
top scorer 3 times, to enter the history of the competition from the widest doors, in addition
to being crowned the player of the year in England twice.
As for Riyad Mahrez, he did not know winning the Golden Boot, but he tasted the award for
the player of the year in England after leading Leicester City to the miracle of winning
the Premier League in 2016.
Liverpool did not achieve the English Premier League title for 30 years until Salah and
his companions came to win the title in 2020, and that was the only coronation in
Salah’s career in the most powerful league in the world.
As for Riyad Mahrez, he won the English Premier League title 4 times, once with
Leicester City, and 3 times with Manchester City, and he is still hungry for more titles
with his team controlling the English Premier League and crowning it 4 times in
the last 5 seasons.
Salah won the Player of the Month award in the English Premier League 4 times,
while Riyad Mahrez never did, and the Egyptian also won the Best Playmaker and
Goal of the Season award in 2021-2022.
Liverpool star scored 120 goals in the English Premier League in 193 matches, and
the Manchester City star scored 77 goals in the same tournament in 254 matches.
At the level of continental titles, Mohamed Salah won the European Champions League,
the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, while Riyad Mahrez is still feeling his
way with Manchester City to win these titles.
With the national teams, Mohamed Salah reached the final of the African Nations twice
with Egypt and did not win the title, while Mahrez won the championship in 2019 to lead
Algeria to the second title in its history.
The list is shrinking
With the departure of Sadio Mane from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, the list of
influential African players in the English Premier League, competing for individual
and collective titles, has shrunk, leaving the scene for the Egyptian-Algerian duo.
There is Moroccan Hakim Ziyech at Chelsea, but his experience so far has been
unsuccessful with the blue giant, which made him a strong candidate to leave this
summer after he scored only 6 goals with his team in 46 matches in the Premier League.
The “Egyptian Pharaoh” faced fierce competition within his team from Senegalese
Sadio Mane, to score goals and win individual prizes, as well as the award for the best
player in Africa, and the one who had the greatest influence among African players
in the Premier League.
Now Riyad Mahrez has become the most prominent African competitor to Mohamed Salah
in the Anglo-Arab competition, and what fuels the conflict between them is their constant
nomination for the Best Player in Africa award with Senegalese Mane.
The strong competition between Manchester City and Liverpool increases the conflict
of the two stars in football, as Mahrez compensates Salah’s individual superiority with
a collective superiority with his team that wins more titles, while Salah seeks to give
Liverpool the 20th title in the Premier League to become the most crowned title
with Manchester United.
The CAF may write a new chapter in the Salah and Mahrez competition on July 21,
as the duo is on the shortlist for the Best Player in Africa Award, which Mahrez won
once before, and The Egyption won it twice.
The competition expands in the “new era” in England
