MO WITH THE FLOW
Salah treble saves Reds in thriller with fearless Leeds
Mohamed Salah admits Liverpool need to improve after his treble saved them from dropping points in a thriller with Leeds.
Marcelo Bielsa’s fearless side came from behind three times in a classic only for Salah to win it two minutes from time with his second penalty.
The first spot- kick came under controversial circumstances when Salah’s shot hit Robin Koch’s arm.
Any outstretched arm is enough for a referee to award a penalty but replays showed the ball had hit Koch’s leg first which cast some doubt over why the decision wasn’t reviewed by VAR.
But Salah didn’t care about that as he stepped up and buried it down the middle and after the match the Egyptian said: “Leeds are a tough team.
“They had a great game and reacted really well. I’m happy about the result but we have to keep on improving. It’s important to stay focused but we had a good game.”
Leeds thought they’d equalised five minutes after the opener when Helder Costa held off Joe Gomez to get a shot past Alisson but the strike was quickly chalked off for offside.
The Whites dazzled on their return to the Premier League after 16 years and didn’t have to wait long for the leveller.
Three minutes later a pass across from Kalvin Phillips was well taken by Jack Harrison who s h immi ed pa s t Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gomez before firing his shot in from the edge of the area.
Liverpool then quickly had a goal of their own disallowed when Sadio Mane was adjudged to be ahead of the Leeds defence but four minutes later ex- Celt Virgil van Dijk headed in an Andy Robertson corner.
But the centre-back was at fault on 30 minutes when Patrick Bamford grabbed a second Leeds leveller.
S t ua r t Da l l a s put a speculative ball towards the Liverpool goal and van Dijk f l icked it straight into Bamford’s path before the striker struck it past Alisson.
This game was quickly becoming a classic and just three minutes later Salah grabbed Liverpool’s third and the game’s fifth after Scotland captain Robertson’s free-kick was cleared only as far as the Egypt international.
Completely unmarked, he took his time controlling the ball before belting it into the roof of the net.
Bielsa’s men roared back again and Mateusz Klich levelled with a fine volley.
But they ended up with nothing to show after Rodrigo fouled Fabinho in the box and Salah won it from the spot.
Hurting Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said: “Liverpool made it hard for us to neutralise them.
“During large parts we were able to match them but in the second half we struggled to get the ball from defence to attack.”