Humble and selfless Salah stays rooted to the ground
IT WILL come as no surprise that Mohamed Salah doesn’t look at headlines, listen to pundits or read what is said about him on social media.
At full-time on Saturday, after a scintillating display that helped Liverpool to the top of the Premier League and Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe described as one of the best he had ever seen, Salah trudged off the pitch, bouncing the match ball before clutching it in his right arm. He had scored a breathtaking hat-trick.
A serenade of “Egyptian King” continued as he made his way to the tunnel where a number of home fans clapped him off. Fast-forward a few minutes to his live post-match interview on TV, when he declined to accept the man-ofthe-match award from James Milner. “No, I will not accept this,” Salah said, preferring to give it to his teammate who had made his 500th Premier League outing.
Humble, selfless or just focused on what he believes he has to do, it was a demonstration that while others get carried away, he stays rooted to the ground.
His tally of 44 goals last season was the best return of his career, but brought with it a very high level of expectation: that whenever he is on the ball something special will happen.
But it really isn’t as simple as that. Before this masterclass in anticipating loose balls, toying with defenders and fine finishing, the 26-yearold hadn’t scored in three games. Did that worry Jurgen Klopp, just a little? “I was not one second worried,” said the Liverpool boss.
‘Goals two and three,’ Klopp added smiling. ‘I don’t know who would have scored these goals. That was outstanding.’
So, where did the doubts come from? Were they legitimate? And was too much expected of Salah, who, we should not forget, arrived at Anfield from Roma last year without the fanfare of those he continues to outscore at home and abroad? His hattrick put him joint-top of this season’s league goal standings with Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang on 10 and took his total to 12 in all competitions ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus.
Klopp was quick to add that he didn’t know what had been written about Salah.