Roughed up by Ramos
It was surely the worst moment of Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool career, yet the reaction said everything about his impact on the English game; the respect he had earned in his first season at Anfield. It was not just the Liverpool support who were upset to see Salah so upset, leaving the pitch at Kyiv’s Olimpiyskiy Stadium in tears, utterly inconsolable, having been levered out of the biggest game of his life by Real Madrid’s pantomime villain, Sergio Ramos. It was fans of all stripes. After the season Salah had enjoyed, what he did and how he carried himself, everyone knew he did not deserve this. There was the sense that Salah’s humility as much as his brilliance transcended tribal divides.
Liverpool had high hopes for Salah when they signed him from Roma in the summer of 2017. He soared beyond them; his debut season underpinned by an intoxicating certainty. He did not think he was going to score whenever he stepped on to the pitch; he knew it. There were 44 goals in all competitions; 16 assists into the bargain. He was voted the Professional Footballers’ Associations’s player of the year and the Champions League final was to be the crowning glory. Ramos had other ideas, his subtle yet brutal hold-and-twist move damaging Salah’s shoulder ligaments.
When he went off in the 30th minute, it was 0-0. Madrid won 3-1. The episode advertised something else – Salah’s steeliness, his obsession with using tough moments as fuel. There was a redemption story to be written in the Champions League. Salah would write it. DH
Persistence pays off against Spurs in 2019
In the final nine matches of the 2018-19 season, all of them won by the two title rivals, the latest Manchester City took an ultimately decisive lead was in the 70th minute of their penultimate game, through Vincent Kompany’s famous strike against Leicester. Mohamed Salah and his Liverpool teammates put themselves and the fans through the wringer time and again to stay on City’s shoulders.
Three other times in their nine games – against Fulham, Southampton and Newcastle – Liverpool found a winner in the 80th minute or later. But it was against Tottenham on 31 March that the nerves were most stretched. After Lucas Moura cancelled out Roberto Firmino’s goal with 20 minutes left, Jürgen Klopp told his players to throw everything they had at getting a winner, whatever the risk of conceding.
Trent Alexander-Arnold had a shot tipped over, then struck a cross that Virgil Van Dijk just missed and deflected to Hugo Lloris after striking Firmino. Divock Origi’s free-kick deflected just the wrong side of a post. But the goal would not come. And then, in the 90th minute … Alexander-Arnold’s second ball in from a corner was deep. There was no chance to bring it under control and if the back-pedalling Salah had attempted to do so it could have gone out of play.
Instead, he did what he could: heading the ball back into the danger area to give Lloris something to deal with. But the Frenchman couldn’t hold it, merely pushing it on to Toby Aldeweireld, off whom the ball trickled in. Salah had kept believing and received his reward. PC
Keeping his cool to set up glory in Madrid
By no means Mohamed Salah’s best goal for Liverpool but arguably his most important. It was a glorious day in Madrid – bright, warm and electrified by excitement – but there were nerves and a deep sense of dread. The 2019 Champions League final felt like Liverpool’s moment, especially given the agony of missing out on that season’s Premier League title despite amassing a frankly ludicrous 97 points, but what if it wasn’t? I certainly felt that anxiety upon entering the Metropolitano and it didn’t lessen by much during the rousing pre-match singing that emanated from our end.
Then, with only 23 seconds played, Liverpool were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Salah and the anxiety grew further given he is pretty rubbish at taking penalties (he has missed 10 during his time at Liverpool). But this time there was no messing: he sprinted to the ball and banged it past Hugo Lloris. One-nil, nerves calmed and, following Divock Origi’s goal three minutes from time, a sixth European Cup in the bag.
It was our moment after all. The celebrations that followed will live with me for a lifetime – utterly euphoric doesn’t do it justice – and for that I’ll forever be grateful to Jürgen Klopp and every one of his players, no one more than Salah. Not for the first or last time in his Liverpool career, he took responsibility when it mattered most and delivered. A big player for the big occasion, in this case the biggest. Thanks for the memories, Mo, and in particular, thanks for Madrid. SN
Turning doubters to believers
Of the 257 goals Mo Salah has scored for Liverpool, this might be the most famous. Here he was spearheading Jürgen Klopp’s team in their pomp when the club’s fans – still scarred after the 97-point second-placed finish in 2018-19 – were still yet to fully believe the 30-year title wait could really be coming to an end. Yes, even with a 13-point lead over Manchester City and a record that read: won 20, drawn 1, lost 0.
A 14th-minute goal by Virgil Van Dijk turned Anfield into a raucous pit but, despite wave after wave of attacks, Manchester United weathered the storm and gave Liverpool a scare in the last quarter of the game. As it rolled into stoppage time Alisson scooped up the ball and spotted Salah in a position just shy of the halfway line that you could fairly describe as “Uh-Oh This Spells Trouble”. The Brazilian adopted his sidewinder stance and volleyed the ball with just the right amount of fade for Salah to run on to. And here’s where it gets interesting.
The Egyptian has to wait for the ball to bounce, allowing the speed demon Daniel James to catch up with him. But the scene then resembles a computer game, with James looking for all the world like a digitised glitching defender trying but failing to shift the immovable force of the scruffy-haired forward who calmly holds him off before slotting past David de Gea.
Salah’s top comes off, his six-pack ripples, and photographers have the shot to define the season. The matador waving his red cape as fans dare sing “we’re gonna win the league” for the first time in 2019-20. The great release seemed almost prescient. Covid soon silenced the rest of Liverpool’s triumphant campaign. GB
Weaving magic against Manchester City
“Nice. Oh that’s lovely. He’s done another one. Too tight now. Can’t score from there. How has he scored from there?” The internal monologue that unfolded as Mohamed Salah weaved his way past four Manchester City players to ignite Anfield in October 2021 confirmed two things. One, a job as a professional broadcaster is not in the offing. Two, no matter how often you witnessed the source of 257 Liverpool goals, Salah’s capacity to astonish was unrivalled at his peak.
There are many goals in the Salah catalogue that rival the City effort for intricacy, individual brilliance and cold precision. But it is the angle of the finish and the occasion that sets this one apart. Salah has his back to goal when he receives Curtis Jones’s pass down the inside right channel. He has already scanned the picture and, genius that he is, solved the puzzle. First he rolls João Cancelo, then rolls his studs over the ball to drag it around Bernardo Silva’s lunging challenge, ignoring Phil Foden’s push in the back as he does so.
Into the area he goes. Aymeric Laporte receives similar treatment to Silva. Mesmerised by Salah’s left foot, he is lured one way and then the other. There is still a goalkeeper of Ederson’s pedigree to beat, and from a ridiculously tight angle, but Salah somehow finds a way with an allegedly weaker right foot.
Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool versus Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was the rivalry that elevated the Premier League to a level that hasn’t been seen since. Salah decorated it in unforgettable fashion. AH
A nemesis for rivals
Mo Salah’s first match at Old Trafford for Liverpool was a nightmare. He was dominated by Ashley Young to such an extent that, a few days later, the Manchester United left-back felt the need to go on Instagram and confirm that Salah wasn’t in his pocket. Liverpool lost 2-1 and WhoScored gave Salah a rating of 5.7, the lowest of the 28 players involved in the match.
Salah’s performance that day proved to be the reddest of herrings. He was a slow-burning nemesis who tormented United more than any player in Liverpool’s history. Perhaps any player in history full stop: we think Salah’s 16 league goals against United, one more than John Ritchie and Jimmy Greaves, are a record. There are worse legacies for a Liverpool player to leave.
Salah’s personality allowed him to avoid the excessive emotion of matches against United – and indeed Everton, who felt his sting nine times themselves. In derby games Salah was cold, clinical, even contemptuous. He particularly enjoyed himself at Old Trafford, where he emerged from Young’s pocket to score 10 goals – including the first hat-trick by a Liverpool player away to United since 1936 – between 2021 and 2024.
The last of those came in a ruthless 3-0 victory at the start of last season, when Salah also made both Luis Díaz’s goals. All three were masterpieces of ruthlessness, economy; each had a kind of knowing superiority. That game was the catalyst for Salah’s last hurrah, a season in which he drove Liverpool to an unexpected 20th title – the same as United – and was arguably the best player in the world. His numbers that season, 29 goals and 18 assists in the Premier League, will widen the eyes of future generations.
This season has been unedifying at times. But when the dust settles and the news agenda moves on, the memory of Salah’s 2024-25 will burn far brighter. Not least because it involved another slaying of Liverpool’s greatest rivals. RS
