‘Special’ Salah inspired by Egyptian exploits
LONDON — Fueled by the adrenaline rush of clinching Egypt’s first World Cup berth in 28 years, Mohamed Salah has set his sights on rescuing Liverpool’s stuttering Champions League campaign.
After drawing its opening two Group E matches, Liverpool has no margin for error when it faces Maribor in Slovenia on Tuesday.
Fortunately for beleaguered Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, Salah is a man for a big occasion.
The former Basel, Chelsea, and Roma winger was the key figure as Egypt enjoyed a dramatic 2-1 win over Congo last week to book its return to the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
There were wild scenes of celebration across Egypt when Salah converted the decisive penalty five minutes into stoppage time.
He became an instant national hero and has already had a school from his hometown of Basyoun renamed in his honor.
“That was to me a dream come true, whether as a footballer or an Egyptian citizen and fan. I’m proud I made the Egyptians happy,” Salah said of the epic victory.
“When I stepped up to take the penalty, I didn’t think of anything but scoring and winning the game.
“The most difficult moment in my life was when the fans fell silent following Congo’s equalizer, but thank God we finally realized a childhood dream of my own.”
Salah’s heroics for Egypt maintained his impressive revival since being sold by Chelsea in 2016 and now he is focused on sparking more jubilation — this time on Merseyside.
Since joining Liverpool for a then club-record $51 million from Roma in June, Salah has quickly won over the doubters with six goals in 12 appearances.
That fine form is a far cry from his time at Stamford Bridge, where he scored just twice in 19 appearances before being sold by then-boss Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho felt Salah’s slender frame was ill-suited to the frenetic Premier League and twice loaned him out to Fiorentina and Roma.
But Salah was reborn after making a permanent move to Rome.
Thriving in a league where obdurate defending has been turned into an art form was a huge boost to Salah’s confidence and that, combined with his growing maturity off the pitch, convinced Klopp to bring him to Anfield.
Klopp isn’t the only one dazzled by Salah’s potent combination of poise and pace, with Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry claiming he has the potential to be one of the world’s best.
“I don’t think it’s about proving anything to Mourinho, but proving to the Liverpool fans that you are this guy, that you can be a player like (Philippe) Coutinho,” Henry said recently.
“For me, he is special, he has something special. He could be a special player for Liverpool for a long time.
“I like the fact that he is direct. We don’t have a lot of players like that in the game anymore.”