SALAH A NEW SUPRE-MO

LIONEL MESSI is having his last tango in Paris, Cristiano Ronaldo a final foxtrot in Manchester, and the world is ready for their successor. Step up Mo Salah (left). There cannot be a more dangerous striker in the whole of Europe right now, as Manchester City’s reaction at the end of this remarkable contest proved. They celebrated with rare abandon, as though they had won a final, not taken a point at Anfield, and it was inspired by sheer relief because they know they dodged a Salah-sized bullet in this shoot-out.

Salah’s goalscoring feats since arriving at Liverpool are the stuff of legend, yet there seems to be an extra dimension to his game this season.

A touch of the stardust that Messi and Ronaldo have sprinkled over the past decade.

The truth is, Liverpool were in a hole here, dominated by City during the first half to such an extent that it seemed a miracle they were still level at the halftime interval.

No doubt Kop manager Jurgen Klopp had words to say but the Reds were a different side in the second half thanks to Salah’s touch of genius.

Where the brilliant visitors were so comfortable in possession in the first 45, his running, his mazy movement, and his instinct for goal reduced them – and their left-back Joao

Cancelo in particular – to mere mortals after the break.

His ball to allow Sadio Mane to open the scoring was sublime but his destruction of Cancelo in the build-up was even better.

For the goal which again put Liverpool ahead, he had three defenders on him but jinked past the lot of ‘em. It was one of the great Anfield goals – the most fitting tribute to Roger Hunt on an emotional afternoon.

In this form he is irresistible, and the shellshocked look on the face of Manchester City’s defenders told that story.

He can be the heir to the throne of Messi if his Mersey mambo continues, and the Anfield board could do worse than ensure that with a new contract in the coming weeks.