Red-hot Salah eyes rare awards hat-trick

– Liverpool star Mohamed Salah hopes to add the African Player-of-the-Year award in Ghana 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 team-mate 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 No 1 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 being successful at Liverpool.”

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

However, Liverpool manager Juergen 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.”

Salah is a doubt for the Merseyside showdown, though, having missed the English Premier League victory at Burnley this week owing to a groin strain.

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. –