They are both world stars, they both score goals by the meter - in the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga respectively. And they have another thing in common: Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah have both played at the Letzigrund before. They will do so again at the end of March when Portugal and Egypt meet in a test match in Zurich.
Cristiano Ronaldo was a guest at Letzi with Real Madrid in 2009. FCZ were in the Champions League for the first time, and the hype surrounding the tickets in the run-up was huge. They could have filled the stadium three times over, said FCZ president Ancillo Canepa at the time. The reason: almost everyone wanted to see Cristiano Ronaldo live.
Mohamed Salah also brought a large crowd to Zurich each time. However, this was less due to him alone than to the duel between Zurich and Basel, the classic match par excellence in Swiss football. Salah spent a year and a half at FC Basel before his career took the next step.
The nimble winger moved from Basel to Chelsea for the then record sum of 15 million francs. The expectations were huge in London, too big for the sensitive player -
even too big. After all, Salah ended up at Liverpool FC this season via AS Roma, where he quickly developed into a Premier League superstar and crowd favorite at Anfield Road.
The Egyptian has scored 21 goals and provided 8 assists in 25 games so far. This puts him in second place in the Premier League's top scorers list and third in the overall European table. Salah will only be 26 years old in June, so he will be in his prime.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been named world footballer of the year five times in his career. It is possible that he will face his successor, Mohamed Salah, at the Letzigrund in March.
FOOTBALL FRIENDLY PORTUGAL EGYPT
Fri March 23, 2018, Letzigrund Stadium Zurich
TICKETS
