Drogba was the first African player to score 100 Premier League goals
Didier Drogba has admitted that he may be reduced to ‘tears’ if Mohamed Salah continues to break all of his goalscoring records.
The former Chelsea striker was the first African player to reach 100 goals in the Premier League during his two spells in England.
However, his eventual total of 104 was recently overtaken by Liverpool’s Salah, who is currently the league’s top scorer with 11 goals – four ahead of team-mate Sadio Mane and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy.
The Egyptian’s strike in Saturday’s 4-0 win against Arsenal took his Premier League tally to 108, with 106 coming in a Liverpool shirt and the other two for Chelsea during his brief stint at Stamford Bridge.
Despite Salah overtaking Drogba in the Premier League charts, the Ivory Coast legend still holds the records for the African player with the most Champions League goals (44), as well as the most Premier League assists (54).
Salah, though, is close to passing the 43-year-old’s Champions League record as well – currently boasting 33 goals in the prestigious competition.
“If he continues he’s going to destroy all my records! I want to cry,” Drogba joked on Mehwar TV.
Although Salah struggled to make his mark during his two years with Chelsea, he has gone on to become one of the world’s best during his time on Merseyside.
Drogba – who played with the Egyptian at Chelsea during the 2014/15 season – stated that always knew the 29-year-old had what it took to be successful.
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He added: “What I’ve seen during training, and all his team-mates will tell you, the quality was there.
“He just needed time on the pitch to show his talent and his quality.
“When you look at the squad we had at the time, it was not easy to play, but what really got me attached to Mo is that he’s really nice, he’s really polite, even when he was not playing.
“He was sad not to contribute, but he was always good. When you have this kind of intelligence it’s just a matter of time before you blow up.”
The ex-Chelsea frontman also revealed that he spoke with Salah when he was at Roma, where he asked Drogba how to deal with a tough patch that he was going through.
“I remember we spoke a few times when he was at Roma and he was scoring goals and then he had a moment when he was not scoring and he asked me how to deal with this kind of situation,” said Drogba.
“I shared with him a lot of examples and experience and how it happened to me and all the strikers.”
Salah currently finds himself fourth in Liverpool’s all-time Premier League top scorers list, just 22 behind leader Robbie Fowler, who scored 128.
Liverpool return to action when they host Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Related links:
- Didier Drogba turns back time with iconic celebration in charity match
- Jurgen Klopp reveals why he isn’t involved in Mohammed Salah contract talks
- Mohamed Salah surrounded by Gabon players asking for his shirt in Egypt game
