“Mo Salah is so much more than
a ‘striker’ for us. Our game stimulates
this development and forces it to be
that way, as everyone is responsible
for everything.
At the same time, he’s become more
and more of a playmaker as well. He’s
a gifted finisher – his imagination and
intuition in those moments is brilliant.
The way that he can keep the ball in the
toughest situations and find a way to
come out and score is what identifies
him. Many players have that, but few
have it consistently; if you do, you’re part
of the world’s best, because it’s all about
the mentality to never give less.
In the most influential matches, he’s
everywhere to be found. For me though,
bigger than the achievement of his goals,
it’s his everyday presence inside our club.
His character is very special, he’s a true
example to everyone, and that’s what
makes Mo such a great player. There’s no
bigger compliment in life. The best ones
stay humble and are true examples.
He invests a huge amount of time in
his preparations and treats his body well- we’ve seen him grow as a professional.
His ambitions are high, but his attitude in
training is higher. If there’s one secret in
life, that would be the one.
He’s true to himself, and he has true
peace of mind too. That really helps him,
and he’s always ready to assist others.
I still believe what you are as a person
is far more important than what you are
as a player.”
to impact his team-mates in another way
that night instead. Back for the final against
Spurs in Madrid, he was offered the chance
to make a rather more direct impact within
two minutes of kick-off – stepping up to face
Hugo Lloris from the penalty spot, after
Moussa Sissoko’s handball.
“I always prepare myself before the game,
but in that moment we got a penalty and
I thought, ‘Oh, s**t... it’s too early, it’s too
early to have a penalty!’” he laughs now.
“But I didn’t want to think negatively. I was
just thinking, ‘You’re going to score, it’s going
to be fine’, so I just scored and the match
became easier after that. They were a tough
team to play against, but we won.”
Salah will never forget that moment of
victory, raising both arms aloft in sheer joy
as the final whistle blew. “Finally, we won
the Champions League – I think it was the
first time for each one of us in the team,” he
says. “It was an unbelievable moment. I’d
always wanted to win it one day, so it was
something special, especially because the
year before you lost it.
“My career has always been like that. I don’t
want to say up and down, but there’s always
something to challenge me – to lose the
final, and I also came to the Premier League
[with Chelsea] and didn’t play that much.
I left, then came back to play here again. My
life in football has always been like that.”HALF AN INCH FROM HISTORY
Even that season, the one in which he’d
achieved his boyhood dream, there was an
agonising moment that fuelled Salah for
another year to come.
It came on his return to the Etihad and the
setting for one of his favourite Liverpool
goals, this time at the opposite end of the
field. Liverpool topped the Premier League
in early January 2019, seven points clear of
City, when they travelled to face the reigning
champions. Eighteen minutes into the game,
with the score 0-0, Salah neatly exchanged
passes with Roberto Firmino, before playing
Sadio Mané in on goal. After the Senegalese
forward’s shot struck the base of an upright,
some slapstick defending led to John Stones
booting his clearance straight into Ederson,
sending the ball spinning towards goal. Just
as Salah raced towards it to tap in if required,
Stones hooked the ball off the line, somehow
directing it through the Egyptian’s legs to
safety. It looked to everyone like the ball had
already crossed the line when Stones made
his clearance, but the goal decision system
showed it hadn’t – by 1.12 centimetres.
“It was so close,” says Salah, still rewinding
that moment in his mind for probably the
millionth time. “I remember it well. I passed
to Sadio, he shot, then Stones cleared the
ball – but I was sure it was in, because I was
running, I was really close and didn’t put my
foot in 100 per cent. I still put it in, but in my
mind it was a goal.
“Then afterwards, I saw it was really, really
tight,” he says, holding his thumb and index
finger close together to illustrate the agony.
“But it was what it was. We had to take it.”“ SALAH’S AMBITIOnS
ARE HIGH – BUT HIS
ATTITUDE IS HIGHER”
Salah has been Liverpool’s top scorer
for five successive seasons, but Reds
assistant Pep Lijnders says there’s so
much more to the Egyptian than goals“YOU’RE OUT OF THE CHAMPIOnS
LEAGUE AnD THE WORLD CUP. IT
WAS THE WORST FEELInG EVER”
lost all three games on their first appearance
at the tournament finals since 1990.
He carried the disappointment of Kyiv with
him, using that pain as a driving force for the
following campaign. “Yes, it was in my mind,”
he says. “It was like, ‘OK, I lost this year, but
I’m going to go next year and do my best to
help the team win it’.”
After signing a new long-term deal with
the club, Salah brilliantly scored the goal
that gave Liverpool a 1-0 win over Napoli in
their final Champions League group game of
2018-19, narrowly squeezing them through
to the knockout stages.
Concussion sustained in a league match
at Newcastle meant he had to watch their
famous semi-final second leg comeback
against Barcelona from the sidelines. With
Klopp’s side 3-0 down from the first leg at
the Camp Nou, the Egyptian wore a T-shirt
bearing the phrase ‘never give up’, hoping
FourFourTwo June 2022 33MO
SALAH