Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah put in a brilliant performance on his return to the pitch following his explosive outburst last week.
After being merely a substitute for the third consecutive game against Leeds last Saturday, Salah thundered that Liverpool had “thrown him under the bus” and hinted that he could leave in January due to his broken relationship with Arne Slot.
He was subsequently left on Merseyside when Liverpool travelled to Milan for their Champions League clash with Inter, but Slot insisted that there would be a way back for the 33-year-old depending on his behaviour.
On Friday morning, the two held a “positive” discussion at Liverpool’s Kirkby training ground, after which it was announced that Salah had been recalled to the team for Saturday’s game against Brighton – a game Salah had insinuated could be his last in a Liverpool shirt.
The Egyptian was visibly unhappy when he stepped off the team bus, as he was once again just a substitute, but Slot was forced to bring him on after 26 minutes following an injury to right-back Joe Gomez, which resulted in Dominik Szoboszlai moving into the defence.
Salah received a warm reception from Anfield when he set foot on the pitch, and he clearly wanted to send a message to Slot with his performance. Within a few minutes, the club legend produced two key passes.
In the second half, Salah whipped in a perfect cross for Hugo Ekitike to double his goal tally after he had netted the fastest goal of the Premier League season so far by scoring within 46 seconds.
Mo Salah now has more Premier League goal involvements for Liverpool than any other player has for a single team in the league’s history, passing Wayne Rooney’s record with Man Utd 🌟 pic.twitter.com/a5CgEFye5D
In doing so, the Egyptian notched his 280th goal involvement in the Premier League, moving ahead of Frank Lampard into third in the all-time standings. He is now only behind Wayne Rooney (311) and Alan Shearer (324).
Salah also became the player with the most goal involvements for a single club (277) in the Premier League, breaking the record Wayne Rooney had set at Man Utd. He had several opportunities to further increase his numbers, but couldn’t take his chances.
All told, Salah created five chances, had three shots, completed 84 per cent of his passes and produced the aforementioned assist. His xG of 0.64 suggests that, on another day, he could easily have scored at least once.
It was an emphatic response from the Egyptian King before heading to the Africa Cup of Nations for a month. Liverpool insist that he is going nowhere in January, and the club legend certainly played like he still has unfinished business on Merseyside. He will surely be back after AFCON.
