Tag: Salah

Mohamed Salah became the first Egyptian player to score in five consecutive editions of the African Cup of Nations with his late strike in a 2-1 win over Zimbabwe on Monday.

Egypt’s captain, starting his first game after four successive matches on the bench at Liverpool, fired home a left-footed effort in the 91st minute to give the seven-time champions a late victory and Hossam Hassan’s side a comfortable start in Morocco, setting a new record for Egypt.

“Our national team captain Mohamed Salah becomes the first Egyptian player to score in five consecutive editions of the Africa Cup of Nations” the Egyptian FA posted on X.

Liverpool’s talisman has scored in the 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and now 2025 editions, matching Ivorian  trio of  Didier Drogba, Abdoulaye Traore and Yaya Toure as well as Tunisian winger Youssef Msakni.

Salah now has the chance to increase his tally with two AFCON tournaments scheduled within the next three years in 2027 and 2028. A goal in each edition would allow the Egypt international to break the record held by Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya and the Ghanaian duo Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan.

Read Also: NFF  urges  Super Eagles to shine  at Morocco 2025

The 33-year-old has scored eight goals in 20 AFCON games – four fewer than Hassan El-Shazly, Egypt’s all-time top scorer in the tournament and three fewer than his current coach Hassan.

Egypt will face South Africa on Friday, then take on Angola on December 29, as Salah aims to finally lift the Africa Cup after losing the final in 2017 and 2021.

Mohamed Salah has been left out of the squad for Liverpool’s Champions League match at Inter Milan.

The club have decided to remove Salah from selection for a short period after he gave an explosive interview on Saturday, claiming that he was “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool and his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had broken down.

Sources told BBC Sport that the decision has been taken with the full support of Slot and that it is in the best interest of all parties involved for Salah to have a brief period away from selection given the nature and timing of the player’s public comments.

It is understood there will be no formal disciplinary action taken by the club.

The 33-year-old is set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations next Monday and also looks likely to also miss Liverpool’s game against Brighton on Saturday.

Liverpool’s 19-man squad flew to Milan yesterday.

Salah gave his interview after he was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Leeds United – the third straight game the Egypt international has started on the bench.

The previous two games had seen Salah come on as a substitute in a 1-1 home draw at Sunderland, while he was left on the bench in a 2-0 win at West Ham.

Read Also: Chukwueze happy with life at Fulham

His last start was in a 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in a Champions League group game and his last goal came in a 2-0 win at Aston Villa on Saturday, 1 November.

Salah has scored five goals in 18 appearances in the Premier League and Champions League this season.

Overall, he has 250 goals in 420 Liverpool appearances and his 29 top-flight goals in the 2024-25 campaign helped the Anfield side win the Premier League title last season.

Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, signed a new two-year contract with the club in April.

Former England striker Wayne Rooney has said Salah is “destroying his legacy” at the club and said prior to the forward being left out of the Inter game that Slot should not involve him in Italy or for the home match against Brighton on Saturday.

“In my head, I’m going to enjoy that game because I don’t know what is going to happen now,” Salah said on Saturday.

“I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to Africa Cup of Nations. I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”

Egyptian attacker Mohamed Salah will miss the Pharaohs’ international friendly game with the Super Eagles billed for December 14^th  after Liverpool confirmed  that he would only be released for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations a day later.

Liverpool  boss Arne Slot officially confirmed yesterday  that Salah will depart to join the Egyptian squad on 15^th  December , ending speculation about when the winger would link up with the Pharaohs.

The announcement also put to rest the desire to have the Liverpool goal machine available for the tie with Nigeria.

Read Also: NFF sets record straight on FIFA,CAF funds

That date ensures Salah will remain available for Liverpool’s upcoming Premier League match against Sunderland (December 3^rd ), Leeds United (December 6^th  and Brighton & Hove Albion on 13^th  December.

This move follows coordination between player, club and country, Slot said — following a period of negotiations with the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and Liverpool’s management.

With AFCON starting 21^st  December in Morocco and running until 18^th  January 2026, Liverpool now know they’ll be without Salah for several Premier League games — beginning with the fixture away to Tottenham Hotspur on 20^th  December, and continuing through games against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 27^th  December at home — among others.

Slot stressed that despite recent rotations and a dip in form, Salah remains a professional and a key figure for both club and country.

Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has been named Premier League player of the season.

It is the second time the 32-year-old Egyptian has won the award, which is decided after votes from the public are combined with those from a panel of football experts, having also claimed it in the 2017-18 campaign.

Salah, who led his side to the Premier League title this season, beat off the challenge from team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch as well as Arsenal’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Declan Rice, Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, and Chris Wood of Nottingham Forest.

Read Also: DANIEL OGUNMODEDE: Hard work, perseverance gave me NPFL title

It is the first time since 2018-19 that a Manchester City player has not won the award.

Going into Sunday’s final game of the season against Crystal Palace, Salah has 28 league goals – five more than anyone else – as well as 18 assists – six more than any other player and two off the record of 20 held by Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne.

This season, he also became the highest-scoring overseas player in Premier League history, overtaking Sergio Aguero’s 184 goals, and signed a new two-year contract to stay at Anfield until 2027.

This month, Salah was named Football Writers’ Association footballer of the year for the third time after receiving more than 90% of the votes.

A living legend in Liverpool, Mohamed Salah has two more years to burnish his astonishing legacy at Anfield after extending his contract on Friday.

In the midst of constant speculation over his future, the 32-year-old has produced one of the great all-time individual seasons to take the Reds to the brink of the Premier League title.

The Egyptian has scored 27 goals and provided 17 assists in 31 league appearances to help Arne Slot’s men open up an 11-point lead for with seven games to go.

A third player of the year award from both his fellow players and football writers is a formality as Salah’s latest prolific season has propelled him into the debate over who is the greatest player of the Premier League era.

Salah said he is driven every day to deliver Premier League glory to Liverpool this season.

 “I think I said in the beginning of the season, I just want to win the Premier League more than anything else. I want it so bad,” Salah told Liverpool’s website. “I think we owe that to the fans. They deserve it, they deserve to enjoy it after that long time, with celebrating at Anfield and in the street and just enjoying ourselves winning the Premier League.”

He added on the prospect of winning the title in front of a full Anfield: “That’s something that drives me crazy every day –- to come to work and push myself and push the other players also, because we are closer than ever now that we can win it in a special way.”

Salah’s 184 goals in the English top flight is the joint fifth highest in Premier League history, while he also now sits in the top 10 for assists.

He did not arrive at Anfield as a superstar destined for greatness when Liverpool paid Roma £34 million ($44 million) for his services in 2017.

As a pacy winger with promise, Salah had hitherto struggled for consistency and end product with a string of European clubs since making the move from his homeland to Swiss side Basel as a 19-year-old.

Salah failed to make the grade in his first spell in the Premier League at Chelsea as the Blues discarded him after just 19 games in what proved to be a monumental mistake.

A move to Italy, firstly on loan at Fiorentina, before heading to Roma on a permanent basis restored Salah’s reputation to tempt Liverpool into taking a punt on his potential, even if he was not Jurgen Klopp’s first choice.

The German manager had wanted his compatriot Julian Brandt instead, but was convinced by the club’s recruitment team and together they rebuilt the Reds into a force of English and European football once more.

Klopp did not take long to be convinced as Salah scored 44 times in a stunning debut season, leading Liverpool to the Champions League final and a top-four Premier League finish.

Read Also: Egypt’s legendary coach tips Salah to win AFCON 2025

He was quickly christened “The Egyptian King” on Merseyside and soon the trophies began to flow like his goals.

Salah left the 2018 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in tears after being forced off by a shoulder injury in the first half which also limited the impact he could make for his country at the World Cup finals in Russia a few weeks later.

One year on, he scored in the final as Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 to deliver the first silverware of the Klopp era.

The club’s first Premier League title for 30 years followed in the coronavirus-disrupted 2019⁄2020 season.

The FA Cup, two League Cups and another run to the Champions League final in 2022 underlined Liverpool’s return to serial trophy contenders under Klopp – and with it Salah’s heightened status within the game and further afield.

He was named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2019 in which he was described as an “iconic figure for Egyptians, Scousers and Muslims the world over.”

Salah has used that profile to call for greater gender equality in the Arab world and to appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza following an Israeli air bombardment last year.

Mohamed Salah’s statistics this season are off the charts but his hopes of winning the next Ballon d’Or could hinge on how much silverware Liverpool scoop up this season, manager Arne Slot said.

The 32-year-old Egyptian is enjoying arguably the best season of his career with 25 Premier league goals already as Liverpool close in on the title.

Liverpool are also in the League Cup final and are amongst the favourites to win the Champions League having finished top of the expanded group phase.

No African player has won the Ballon d’Or since George Weah in 1995 and no Liverpool player has won soccer’s top individual award since Michael Owen in 2001, since when only twice has it gone to a player from an English club.

Salah’s incredible form has put him in the frame to follow Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) in 2008 and Manchester City’s Rodri last year.

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“It’s a good thing that Mo is in the discussion because it means he is doing well and we are doing well but for him to stay in that discussion he should bring in the same performances as he’s done for seven or eight months now,” Slot told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s home clash with Newcastle United.

“I think in general someone who wins the Ballon d’Or needs to win something as well so it’s a great challenge that is in front of us and in front of him.

“I think that is what it takes for us to have a chance of winning something and if we as a team can win something, he will have a far better chance to win the Ballon d’Or.”

Salah, who is yet to agree a contract extension beyond the current season, has scored 30 goals in all competitions this season, the fifth time he has reached that number since joining Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017.

He scored one and assisted another in the 2-0 win at Manchester City on Sunday that put Liverpool 11 points clear of Arsenal having played a game more.

While some suggested the title race is over, Slot remains cautious and knows fifth-placed Newcastle, who they also face in the League Cup final next month, are dangerous, especially with in-form striker Alexander Isak.

“It’s an under-statement to say he’s in fine form, he is in excellent form,” Slot said of the Swede. “(Our) team performance will help control him. The more ball possession we have the more we can control him although he is dangerous on counter-attacks.

“We have two very good centre backs, which is what you need when you face the quality of Isak. I like the style of play Eddie Howe has introduced, a team who has a very good game plan, very intense with or without the ball.”

Slot, who could win a treble in his first season, said there was no chance of his players getting complacent.

“I don’t think I need to even enforce that message,” the Dutchman said. “These players are so long in this competition, much longer than me, they know how tough it is.”