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Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi share a key trait as the Egyptian joins Liverpool 100 club
Fabinho took possession of the ball in the 53rd minute at Brentford Community Stadium.
The Brazilian looked around, took a step forward, and then chipped a lovely pass over the top of the Brentford defense into the path of Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian took the first volley, cushioning the ball with the inside of his left foot as it ricocheted off David Raya and into the net’s corner.
Salah’s finish was flawless, tucked away with the kind of dependability on the left foot that has come to be associated with Lionel Messi. Salah only half-celebrated the moment because he thought he was offside, but this obscured the fact that it was a historic occasion.
Following VAR’s intervention, Salah was officially in the Premier League’s 100-goal club for Liverpool alone, no longer needing the two Chelsea goals from his ill-fated spell in 2013/14 to qualify for the elite group.
Salah now joins Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, and Robbie Fowler as the only Liverpool players to have scored a century of Premier League goals.
But what makes Salah’s achievement even more remarkable is that he only needed 150 games to reach the milestone. Faster than anyone else in club history.
Furthermore, Salah is now among the club’s top ten all-time goal scorers, trailing only Harry Chambers and Owen. It stands to reason that by the end of the season, he could have surpassed Chambers and risen to ninth place.
Jürgen Klopp waxed lyrical about his No.11 after the game against Brentford.
“Mo [Salah] is a goal machine, definitely. His professionalism is absolutely second to none. He does absolutely everything to be always fit, to stay always on track — first in, last out, all these kind of things. So, that’s Mo,” Klopp told reporters.
“On top of that, apart from his technical skill-set and all these kind of things, he’s desperate to score goals and that’s helpful as well.
“Whatever you do on the pitch, whatever you create, whatever you initiate, you need somebody who brings the ball over the line or in the back of the net — and Mo is absolutely there with the best I ever saw, he knows that. The numbers he has are insane.
“I’m obviously blessed to work with some good players during my career.”
Salah will go down as one of the best — and most astute — purchases in club history, regardless of the benefit of hindsight.
Liverpool paid Roma £34 million plus add-ons for him in the summer of 2017, a relative bargain when compared to what Barcelona paid for Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembèlè, and Antoine Griezmann in recent years.
In his first three seasons, he had double-digit goals and assists, with a slight drop in the latter column in his fourth. Last season, he almost single-handedly carried Liverpool’s goal threat, as Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino’s output plummeted. Salah scored 22 league goals last season, more than Mané and Firmino combined.
Salah’s contract is coming to an end, but it is expected that the club and player will meet at some point to work out a new deal that will keep him at the club well into his 30s.
Salah’s brilliance should not be underestimated; the sheer consistency he’s displayed since arriving at Anfield can be taken for granted at times. His genius, like Lionel Messi’s at Barcelona, has become so routine that moments of magic have almost become normal.
Now, we’re not comparing Salah to Messi, but Salah’s goal output has been so consistent for so long that fans can become accustomed to it and fail to appreciate what they’re seeing.
And if Salah signs that extension, you can bet he’ll end up in the top five, replacing Gerrard on 186 goals.
Messi could be the ‘GOAT.’ Salah, on the other hand, is the Egyptian King.
Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi share a key trait as the Egyptian joins Liverpool 100 club
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Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi share a key trait as the Egyptian joins Liverpool 100 club
