Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool's Mohamed Salah must perform well over longer period to become world's best

Salah scored twice as Liverpool established a 5-2 lead over Roma

Mohamed Salah has been in sensational form for Liverpool this season (Getty)

Jürgen Klopp believes Mohamed Salah has to perform at a consistently high level over a long period of time before he can be considered as the best player in world football.

Salah’s remarkable debut season at Liverpool reached new heights on Tuesday night with two fine goals against former club Roma in the Champions League semi-finals.

The newly-crowned PFA Player of the Year has scored 43 times since his arrival at Anfield last summer and is four more away from registering the most of any Liverpool player in a single campaign.

Salah’s performance in the 5-2 victory over Roma led some to talk the Egyptian up as a Ballon d’Or candidate, despite Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s dominance of the award over the last decade.

Klopp, however, believes that his free-scoring winger must perform at the same world-beating level over a number of years before he can be considered the world’s best.

“Look, you always create stories,” the Liverpool manager said, when asked whether he considered Salah better than Messi and Ronaldo. “If you think he’s the best in the world, write it or say it.

“He is in outstanding good shape, world class shape, that’s 100 per cent. That’s good. To be the best in the world you need to do that over a longer period I think.

“There are a few others who are not too bad. He is a fantastic player. I’m really happy.”