Mohamed Salah has laughed off criticism of Darwin Nunez, revealing he is the player he most prefers lining up alongside for Liverpool since Roberto Firmino left the club.

Nunez has come in for some criticism this term after just three goals in 18 appearances and the Uruguay international only has one in his last nine for the Reds, which came in the 2-0 victory against Aston Villa before the international break.

With Liverpool leading the Premier League and Champions League, criticism has mostly been overshadowed by the team’s overall performance. However, Salah, who leads the Premier League scoring charts with 13 goals alongside Erling Haaland, has now been compelled to dismiss criticism of his teammate.

Salah answered questions from fans via Zoom as part of a competition run by the banks Visa and El Mashrek. One question particularly asked about his favorite teammate to play with at Anfield. And Salah defended his No. 9 after the person on the other end of the Zoom connection shook his head when Nunez was mentioned.

“Who do I most like to play with? It was Firmino,” Salah says.

“Now I feel like I generally like playing with Nunez.

“A lot of people don’t like him but I like playing with him. I see Bahaa (the man in the video asking the question) keeps shaking his head not liking [Nunez].

“Nah (laughing), I like playing with him in general. [Nunez is] a player with different skills. Not a lot of people understand his ball.”