Mohamed Salah looks set to play a big part in Liverpool’s huge clash with Manchester City tomorrow.
Salah has recovered just in time from a hamstring injury to be fit to face City at Anfield. Having scored 11 goals in 19 games for Liverpool against the champions, Mo has often done well in this game.
So, when Jamie Carragher asked him for Sky Sports to name his favourite memory of facing City, Liverpool’s Egyptian King had plenty to choose from. In the end though, Salah went with a brilliant result at the Etihad back in 2018.
“The solo goal at Anfield, I think that was really good,” began the 31-year-old. “But the game that will never leave my mind is the Champions League away game, the 2-1.
“I was talking to Virg [Virgil van Dijk] yesterday on the bench, I was like ‘I think that’s the most difficult game we played at Liverpool.’ Jesus scored in the first minute, it was the quarter-finals of the Champions League. That game was hell! But in the end we managed to win 2-1.”
Salah names favourite City memory
Having been so brilliant against them over the past seven years, Salah could had a number of different options here.
For us, it’s hard to look past his tremendous goal at Anfield against the Citizens back in 2021. Although Liverpool ultimately fell short in the league by a point, it was a huge, huge goal that will go down as an all-time Premier League great.
Another good memory for Mo came in his first home encounter with City. He scored another brilliant goal – this time lobbing Ederson from miles out – as Liverpool won 4-3.
But you can also understand why Salah has gone for the one that he has. Having come away with a 3-0 win from the first-leg of the quarter-final in 2017/18, the Reds were favourites heading into the second-leg.
This was a City team on their way to getting 100 points in the Premier League, though. Liverpool were not yet the serial winners they would go on to become and there was a feeling that Pep Guardiola’s team would come at them all guns blazing. They had to.
Having scored an early goal – and had another contentiously ruled out – it looked like City might just have it their own way after all.
But Salah’s little dinked equaliser early into the second-half changed everything. The home team now needed to score four times more. It was a superb finish from Mo too, and sent the away end into bedlam.
From there, Liverpool took control. Roberto Firmino added the finishing touch to send the Reds into a first Champions League semi-final in 10 years. Heady days.
There’s still time to better this though, Mo. More of the same tomorrow please…