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Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo will be key players in the Champions League final.

OPINION: Who will have the biggest influence on the Champions League final? Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, or Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo?

Ben Strang – SALAH

Mohamed Salah is having a season for the ages, and will be the key to Liverpool stunning European heavyweights Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

With 44 goals to his name in all competitions, Salah has had an incredible debut campaign in Liverpool. He moved back to England with it all to prove after a torrid time at Chelsea two years previous, but has proved one of the best players in world football over the past nine months.

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Given how the teams play, and the importance the players have to their side, Salah is poised to have the biggest impact in the final.

He and Ronaldo are tied in goals scored during this campaign, with 44 each in all competitions. Ronaldo's have come in fewer games, and almost all during the second half of the season when he hit a run of form that was hard to match.

AP

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring the opener against Brighton at Anfield earlier this month.

But that form has faded somewhat. He's coming off an ankle injury, and his support cast in the front line aren't what Salah has.

Ronaldo has eight assists this campaign, whereas Salah has 14. The Egyptian is part of a forward line with 29 goals in the Champions League heading into the final, making them the most potent trio in a single season in history.

Salah will be running down the right flank at the suspect defence of Marcelo. Marcelo is a guy who loves to rampage forward, testing the opposing fullback and freeing up space for the attacker ahead.

If he doesn't create a couple of goals, his positional problems could lead to Salah running riot in the space he has left over.

You're basically allowing Salah to run at a centre-back one-on-one, with two of the most potent attacking threats in the game along side him.

Salah will be the most influential player in this match.

History backs Ronaldo, but the style, tactics and stunning form Salah has showed make him the key in Kiev.

Phillip Rollo – RONALDO

Zinedine Zidane said he would not trade any of his Real Madrid players for Mohamed Salah. Why would he when he has the most influential player in Champions League history at his disposal?

Although nothing separates the two players this season, having both scored 44 goals across all competitions, Salah still has a long way to go before he can match Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible exploits in the Champions League – a competition where he is king.

With 120 goals to his name, no player has ever scored more goals in Champions League history than the Portugese megastar, who is already a lock to become the competition's top scorer for a record-extending seventh season.

Ronaldo has netted an incredible 15 times in the Champions League this season, scoring a rate of one goal every 72 minutes. That is five more goals than any of his nearest rivals, two of whom play for Liverpool: Salah and Roberto Firmino.

He has reached double figures for seven consecutive seasons and his four finals goals are the highest of the Champions League era.

AP

Cristiano Ronaldo has managed 44 goals across all competitions this campaign, the same as Mohamed Salah.

And although he has just returned from an ankle injury to take his place in Saturday's (Sunday NZT) final, the 33-year-old still looms as the most important figure for Real – a team whose 12 European triumphs significantly outweighs their three finals defeats.

Having bombed in La Liga – finishing well behind Barcelona in third place – the pressure is on Ronaldo to deliver his fourth Champions League title and he should be hitting his best form with the World Cup just weeks away.

He has carried this Real on his shoulders before, and having scored a brace against Juventus in the final last season and finishing Atletico Madrid off in the penalty shootout the year prior, I expect him to produce his best on the biggest stage once again.

 - Stuff