Two of Zidane’s favorite players have left, only Salah remains at Liverpool

Gilabola.com – Zinedine Zidane once expressed his admiration for Liverpool’s front line which included Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino when he was still Real Madrid coach. However, of the three players he previously praised, now only Salah is still at Anfield.

Mane and Firmino will leave the club in 2022 and 2023, marking the end of the golden era of the attacking trio that once brought Liverpool glory in Europe and England.

During their heyday, the trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino became the backbone of Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. The collaboration of the three led the club to win the Champions League title in 2019 and the English Premier League trophy a year later.

They also managed to bring Communists appeared in the Champions League final in 2018 and 2022. Zidane himself acknowledged the extraordinary strength of this trio ahead of Real Madrid’s meeting with Liverpool in the 2021 Champions League quarter-finals.

He considers Liverpool to be a complete team with even strength in all lines. However, he highlighted that their three main attackers are big threats to watch out for because of their high effectiveness and cooperation in front of goal.

The French coach said that Liverpool does not only depend on attacks, but also has a strong team balance. According to him, this compactness is what makes Klopp’s troops difficult to beat.

These remarks were a separate acknowledgment of the quality of the squad which was at the peak of its performance at that time. However, time has passed. Of the three players Zidane once admired, two of them have left Merseyside.

Mane will first leave in 2022 to join Bayern Munich, before finally continuing his career in Saudi Arabia with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.

Firmino then followed in his former colleague’s footsteps a year later after his role in the team was reduced. The arrival of Darwin Nunez means that the Brazilian striker rarely gets the opportunity to play as a starter. He finally decided to move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia before joining Al Sadd in Qatar.

Now only Mohamed Salah remains at Liverpool. The player from Egypt remains a mainstay even though his performance at the start of this season was not as productive as last season. In 16 matches in all competitions, he has only scored five goals and three assists.

However, this achievement is still quite good for a 33 year old player. However, comparisons with last season, when he scored 34 goals and 23 assists, make this time’s performance appear to have decreased.

Mane and Firmino’s departures mark the end of one of the most successful eras in Liverpool’s modern history. The combination of the three is not only feared for their goal-scoring abilities, but also for their extraordinary chemistry on the field that can rarely be replaced.

Jurgen Klopp himself once said that losing the trio was a natural consequence of the football cycle. He realized that squad regeneration was important for the team to remain competitive in the future.