The most unlucky front 3 ever might actually be Mane–Firmino–Salah. They had everything you would want in an attack. Goals, creativity, pressing, movement, chemistry, balance. They could hurt you in every possible way.
Salah was the ruthless scorer, Mane was the chaos and explosiveness, Firmino was the glue that made everything function. And that balance is what made them so so terrifying. It wasn’t just three great attackers playing together, it was three profiles that completed each other perfectly.
I genuinely think if football history was a little kinder to them, people would speak about them as arguably the greatest front 3 ever. The problem is they existed at the same time as two footballing machines Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and that Real Madrid dynasty led by a beast Ronaldo.
People forget how fine the margins were. Liverpool got 97 points and still didn’t win the league. Then got 92 points and still didn’t win the league again. In almost any other season, those are comfortable title-winning seasons. That alone tells you the level they were competing against.
Then in Europe, Real Madrid took two Champions League finals away from them. Imagine the narrative if Liverpool win even one of those finals, or both. Suddenly that front 3 has 3 UCLs, multiple Premier Leagues, and the entire conversation changes a lot. We will all see them differently.
Because football history is heavily written by trophies, not always performances. A team can be historically dominant, but if another all-time team exists at the same moment, somebody’s legacy gets slightly buried. That’s what happened to them.
Despite all that, they still delivered one of the greatest peaks we’ve ever seen. They pressed like demons, countered at frightening speed, scored ridiculous numbers, and bullied elite defenses consistently. There was no comfortable way to defend against them. Sit deep, they break you in transition. Press high, they run past you. Man mark Firmino, Salah and Mane kill you in the spaces.
I honestly think time will be kinder to that Liverpool front 3. Once emotions and club rivalries fade a bit, people will look back and realize just how absurd they were. Because ability-wise, chemistry-wise, and balance-wise, they belong in any all-time conversation.
One difference I realized is how Barca fans reacted to Lewandowski leaving and how Bayern fans reacted back in 2022.
Two completely different reactions. That’s why I also think Lewy will talk more about Barca than Bayern when he retires. He’s more appreciated in Spain.