Salah eyes awards hat-trick

LIVERPOOL star Mohamed Salah hopes to add the African Player of the Year award today to his rapidly expanding collection of individual honours.

The Egyptian, scorer of 23 goals in all competitions midway through his first season at Anfield, has been voted BBC African Footballer of the Year and Arab Player of the Year.

Salah, Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane of Senegal and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Borussia Dortmund and Gabon are the contenders for the highest African individual football honour.

The scoring feats of Salah have installed him as the public and media favourite to succeed Algerian Riyad Mahrez of Leicester City as the number one African footballer.

“I want to be the best Egyptian footballer ever,” said Salah after receiving the BBC award last month. “When I came to Liverpool, I hoped to show everyone my abilities. I scored a lot of goals with Roma and am very happy at Liverpool.”

Salah and Mane will leave Accra after the awards ceremony as Liverpool have an FA Cup third-round derby date with Everton tomorrow night.

However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did not hesitate to release his African duo for the Accra ceremony, which will include six other awards.

“It is a sign of respect,” he told reporters in Liverpool. “We sleep in a hotel and they sleep in a plane. That is the only difference.”

Should Salah be named player of the year, he will be only the second Egyptian after 1983 winner Mahmoud al Khatib to hoist the symbol of individual brilliance. — AFP