Dejan Lovren Reveals Why 'Superstar' Salah Can Challenge Messi & Ronaldo for Ballon d'Or

There's just no stopping Liverpool's Mohamed Salah right now. A brace in the Reds' 5-2 thrashing of Roma in the Champions League semi finals has taken the 25-year-old's goal tally up to 43 in all competitions. 

Salah has already been sweeping up the individual honours this year, including African Footballer of the Year and PFA Players' Player of the Year. However, the personal accolades might not stop there, according to his teammate Dejan Lovren. 

The Reds' defender has stoked the hype by claiming that Salah's incredible debut season at Liverpool makes him deserving of at least being in the conversation for this year's Ballon d'Or. 

"Mo is becoming a superstar," said Lovren after their victory over Roma, as quoted by the Guardian. 

"It looks easy what he does, but it is very difficult. I don't want to put any extra pressure on him and maybe this is not the right time but if he continues like that he has every right to be regarded as one of the best three in the world at the end of the year.

"When people talk about Ronaldo and Messi they should also talk about Salah. He deserves it, he deserves to be mentioned for the Ballon d'Or. At the start of the season I didn't know he could do this, but you see how he is working, how he wants the ball, he is just a different player to what he was."

Salah has surpassed everybody's expectations in his maiden season at Anfield. The Egyptian is smashing all of Liverpool's club records - the most recent to topple is that Salah has become the first Liverpool player to score 10 goals in a single Champions League campaign.

Roma fans must be kicking themselves that their club allowed Salah to leave the club last summer and go on to almost single-handedly dash their hopes of Champions League glory. It has recently been revealed that the club were forced to sell Salah to meet FIFA's financial fair play regulations. 

"I think our style helps him a lot," Lovren added. "He didn’t play that way for Basel or Chelsea or Roma, but the way we can find him suits him perfectly. The most important thing now is for him to stay injury free. If he can do that, anything is possible."

Fellow Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is also backing Salah's bid for the Ballon d'Or at the end of the year.

The youngster said: "There is still a long way to go to the Ballon d'Or ceremony, so he has another six months or so to carry on, but I think the team would back him to continue doing well."