behind the Sky Blues. “We’re doing well,”
he says. “Hopefully we’re going to finish the
season with the title.”
Salah apologises as he briefly breaks off to
ask his seven-year-old daughter, the elder of
his two children, to be a little quieter in the
background, so he can speak to us without
distractions. “Makka, please!” he says.
“Sorry, two kids, big problem!” It’s a joke, of
course – it’s obvious he adores them both.
He quickly turns back to our question,
about the goals that mean most to him in
the red of Liverpool. Asked for his three
standouts, he doesn’t have an immediate
answer. “Three?” he replies, with a tone that
suggests he doesn’t even know where to
begin, the choice is so vast. What about one,
then: is that easier to pinpoint? “One?! One is
tough!” he says, breaking out into laughter.
You get a sense that picking one of 153 is
like choosing between his two daughters.
He thinks, though, and offers the two that
come to mind. Maybe some might have
anticipated that he’d immediately choose
the goal that won him FIFA’s prestigious
Puskas Award in 2018, a twist and a turn on
the edge of the box at home to Everton,
followed by a majestic curling effort into the
far corner. Then there was the long-range
thunderbolt he scored against Chelsea, as
Liverpool battled Manchester City in the
closing stages of the Premier League title
race in 2019. Or his mesmersing solo run
against City at Anfield in October, when he
befuddled an array of top-quality defenders
in a way that only Salah can, earning him his
sixth BBC Goal of the Month award – only
Wayne Rooney has ever won more.
His answer, though, is none of the above.
“Maybe Man City away in the Champions
League – the way I scored was really good,”
he says. “Then United at home [in January
2020], for sure. I can’t choose one!”
We’ll come back to the United
goal a little later, but his first
pick is instructive – particularly
in choosing it over his
2021 strike against the
same opposition, seen
by many as far more
spectacular. “That one
was good, it wasn’t
bad...” Salah smiles
modestly. “But with the
one in the Champions
League, it was the way
that I shot.”
Salah had dribbled the ball
past Ederson at the Etihad Stadium
in April 2018, but he was moving away
from goal and the angle was tight. Nicolas
Otamendi was standing in his way, before
an exquisitely subtle dink floated the ball
over the Argentine and into the net, almost
in slow motion. It was just one kick of the
ball, from no more than 10 yards out, but
this was a piece of art, usually delivered with
a paint brush in-hand rather than a left foot.
“No one expected I was going to shoot with
someone on the line,” says the footballing
Picasso. “In my mind, there was more joy for
a goal like that.”
FourFourTwo June 2022 31MO
SALAH