(CNN) — Liverpool celebrity Mohamed Salah includes a message for Manchester City director Pep Guardiola — that the Champions League is football’s»biggest competition.»
It is often claimed that Guardiola’s stewardship of all City is going to be measured by the club winning its first Champions League title, though the Catalan lately said he’d choose winning the English Premier League over European success.
Talking to reporters earlier this month, Guardiola likened Liverpool’s Champions League triumph with a visit to the casino, comparing it with all the twist of roulette wheel.
While the Premier League entails playing 38 games from domestic competitions, Liverpool played 13 matches to win the Champions League, emerging out of a group containing Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Red Star Belgrade, before beating Bayern Munich, Porto, Barcelona and Tottenham.
Guardiola, that won the Champions League double as coach of Barcelona, insisted that the Premier League was»the most important thing, the stand-out competition, as it’s every weekend» As a coach Guardiola last won the Champions League at 2011.
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However, Salah, who believed Liverpool’s opening goal in the 2-0 win over Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid, contrasts with the Spaniard, claiming the prestige of winning the contest trumps England’s domestic crown.
«Honestly, I didn’t know that he (Guardiola) explained that, but I think if you offer him a choice to select that one, he would pick the Champions League,» Salah told CNN’s Becky Anderson in a private interview in the club’s Melwood training ground.
«That is my opinion. I am not talking about himbut my opinion. It is the largest competition in football, so everyone wants to win it.
«Every coach, every player wants to win it, dreams of winning . So needless to say the Premier League is something large, but the Champions League is the biggest competition.»
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While complimentary about Liverpool’s Champions League victory, Guardiola publicly contested City’s domestic depreciation failed to inspire additional adulation.
And while City celebrated a second successive Premier League title, Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham at June’s Champions League final took center stage.
«Frankly, it was amazing,» Salah said of the team’s Champions League success. «it is a dream for everybody, the city, the gamers, to acquire a Champions League is something really good and something really big.
«So everybody was having that special moment. I was really feeling like a kid whose fantasy comes true»
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Premier League rivalry
City and Liverpool seems set to restart hostilities in this season’s Premier League title race with Guardiola’s men aiming for a third successive domestic crown.
Not since 1990, two decades before the arrival of the Premier League, has Liverpool been crowned as winner of England’s top division.
And its job doesn’t seem like becoming easier anytime soon.
Founded by just a single point last term, City has invested large in the transport market with the #62.8 million ($76 million) signing of midfielder Rodri in Atletico Madrid, as well as splashing out #60 million ($72.4 million) on Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo.
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The two teams won their opening games of the new year convincingly with Liverpool thrashing Norwich 4-1 along with City beating West Ham 5-0 in east London.
However, while City sits at home on Wednesday night planning for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Tottenham, Liverpool is currently in Istanbul for the European Super Cup final.
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The match, which is held annually between the champions of the Champions League and Europa League, pits Liverpool against English rival Chelsea.
«I really like these games,» Salah said before this tie in Turkey.
«Big games and a last match… they would like to win with a new trainer and we also wish to acquire it,» additional Salah, referring to Chelsea’s new manager Frank Lampard.
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