Mohamed Salah shielded Darwin Nunez from criticism from fans in a live question and answer session and compared him to a great Liverpool player.
It has been a difficult season for Nunez, who has managed just three goals in 18 games despite his boisterous presence.
Jamie Carragher predicted earlier in December that Liverpool would sell Nunez at the end of the season and deemed him an inferior support act to Divock Origi.
But Salah refuted criticism of his teammate in front of supporters, claiming he is fun to play with, just like Roberto Firmino.
The Brazilian suffered a slump during his time at Anfield, but his all-round performance as a false nine made him a valuable member of the team and he stuck around for eight seasons. He and Salah played together 245 times, scoring 36 goals.
'Who do I prefer to play with? It was Firmino. Now I feel like overall I enjoy playing with Nunez,” Salah told the fan Q&A.
'A lot of people don't like him, but I like playing with him. I see Bahaa (the guy who asked the question) keeps shaking his head because he doesn't like it [Nunez].
'No (laughs), I generally enjoy playing with him. [Nunez is] a player with different skills. Not many people understand his ball.'
Salah and Nunez have, in glimpses, had an electric partnership. This time last season they were the best partnership in the Premier League in terms of assists and chances created.
By early December 2023, they were helping each other at such a pace that if they had continued they would have set a Premier League record.
In total, they have played together 96 times and scored 16 goals for each other.
Having a self-sacrificing creator is important for Salah and often gets the best out of him when they can create space for him to cut inside, or feed him with one-twos.
After Firmino left, Salah beamed in his praise: “He just plays for the team. He doesn't really care about scoring, he just wants to enjoy his game, just play football and wants the team to win.' Firmino won seven trophies with the Reds.
Nunez has only scored two assists this season in addition to his three goals and has often had to settle for a place on the bench.
Over the summer, John Barnes told Mail Sport that Nunez's wider contributions to the team were valuable, even if they would like to see him on the scoresheet a bit more.
“With what he has, and getting the goals, but also with his attitude, work rate and effort, he is great for Liverpool,” he said.
“We want perfection, we want him to do what Erling Haaland does. But we want Haaland to hold the ball better than he does.
'In terms of what Nunez gives us, yes, we would like him to score more goals. If he could score more goals like Robbie Fowler and do what else he does, he would be the best player in the world.”
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