For two aging legends who have waged an epic rivalry for years, the World Cup could bring one last duel.
Not Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, or not necessarily, given the necessary results Portugal and Argentina could face in the quarter-finals in Kansas City, but Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah.
they have faced each other in the Community Shield, the Champions League and the Carabao Cup, but their rivalry is primarily a Premier League battle. Now, in the northwest of the United States and not in the northwest of England.
They meet in Seattle as captains of Belgium and Egypt and, arguably, two of the best Premier League players of the last decade.
There are arguments for Harry Kane and Virgil van Dijk, and one for Erling Haaland based on a shorter stay in the league, but De Bryjn and Salah have combined creativity with class, assists with goals, trophies with greatness, individual achievements with collective success. There is another common denominator.
Chelsea may be relieved that these talents don’t come up against each other more often; it spared them embarrassing memories of what they had and lost when Jose Mourinho showed reluctance to activate them. De Bryjn played just two Premier League games for them.
Salah scored only two goals, compared to the hundreds he later scored for Liverpool FC. There is an alternative history where, despite Sheikh Mansur or Mikael Edwards, Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, Chelsea would have been the dominant force in England over the last decade if they had kept De Bruyne and Salah.
Instead, their influence was immense. Salah scored 257 goals and provided 122 assists for Liverpool, while De Bruyne recorded 108 goals and 170 assists for Manchester City. The Belgian equaled the record for assists in a Premier League season with 20, until Bruno Fernandes surpassed him.
Salah remains at the top of the goal contribution statistics with 47 in one season (29 goals and 18 assists). Their teams, in different periods, have reached 100, 99, 98 and 97 points in the season. Analyzing the eras of the two great managers, it is almost indisputable that Salah was Klopp’s best player at Liverpool, while De Bruyne was arguably Guardiola’s best at City.
The Belgian was even considered the greatest player in the history of Manchester City. Salah, meanwhile, rose to a very high place in Anfield history, perhaps only behind Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard. In a league that has often been the world’s strongest and richest for years, they dominated the individual awards.
Among them, they were named Player of the Year in 2018, 2022 and 2025, as well as PFA Player of the Year in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025. The awards they did not win came in the form of wider global recognition. Neither came close to the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi is a reason for this, but so is Cristiano Ronaldo. Also affected was the fact that each of them only won one Champions League and, most importantly, their absence in the decisive moments of the finals due to injuries.
Salah was injured in the first final, while De Bruyne in both of his finals. Perhaps the reason is also that they come from countries that are not traditional football superpowers, and lack international success with the national team.
Salah was runner-up in the African Cup, while De Bruyne finished third in the World Cup. De Bryjn had an outstanding performance at the 2018 World Cup, especially against Brazil in the quarter-finals.
In 2022 he admitted that “Belgium’s golden generation is over”. Even in 2026 he is still there, even though names like Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen and Tobi Alderueireld have left. Salah’s journey to the World Cup has been shorter.
He was injured in 2018 after a Sergio Ramos tackle, while Egypt failed to qualify – until 2022. For him, 2026 could be his best World Cup. The hope is that in this last meeting the best versions of them will be seen:
Salah who penetrates quickly and strikes with the left, and De Bryjn who delivers long passes and excellent assists. Perhaps the last season in the Premier League was a testament to this absence.
The league became poorer in superstar players and more dependent on goals from standard shots. Maybe they were just exceptional exceptions who made their teams look better. Each would have gained more if the other did not exist.
And now Salah’s ambitions could come up against De Bruyne’s for the last time, or vice versa. But as their careers draw to a close, nostalgia for Manchester and Liverpool remains strong.
An era has ended, but the Salah-De Bryjn years were full of goals and greatness. /Panorama Sport/
