Mohamed Salah made history by becoming the first Liverpool player in history to score 20+ goals in seven consecutive years after finding the back of the net in the Reds’ 6-1 Europa League round of 16 second leg tie against Sparta Prague on Thursday night.
The Egypt international was making his first start since returning from the relapse of a hamstring injury he suffered while participating at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and scored the third goal against Sparta while providing three assists for Bobby Clark, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai’s goals.
Mohamed Salah is the first player in Liverpool’s 131-year history to score 20+ goals across all competitions in SEVEN consecutive seasons.
Seven-season wonder of the world. ???? pic.twitter.com/dNLLF0OwnB
— Squawka (@Squawka) March 14, 2024
It took Salah’s goal involvement this season to 20 goals and 13 assists in all competitions and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was never in doubt of Salah’s ability to achieve that feat.
“The second stat is now not really surprising because he’s an outstanding player,” Klopp said after the Sparta Prague game.
“Mo is a special story today because it was not the plan that he plays 90 minutes. Actually the plan was to take him off in the moment when we brought Mateusz [Musialowski on] but then Bobby sat in front of me so it was clear we cannot do that now, that Bobby has to come off.
“But Mo is experienced enough that he recovered already during the game. I told him not to defend anymore – I don’t think I ever said that to a player. By the way, Mo, that’s different on Sunday!”
Salah with three assists and a goal tonight ???? pic.twitter.com/1Bj2effT09
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 14, 2024
The German tactician added: “I’ve worked seven years together with him, so one problem we never had was consistency.
“Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop. His quality is anyway there, but then his desire to score just doesn’t stop. He improved in so many aspects since he started here. He will not stop.
“So, I’m less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened, to be honest, in this season but he was injured for a while and that’s why he couldn’t do it [earlier] otherwise it would have happened in January or February. So, great, very good and, as I said, great to have him back.”
Mohamed Salah has now been directly involved in 30+ goals across all competitions this season:
◎ 30 games
◉ 20 goals
◉ 12 assistsRidiculous output. ????#UEL pic.twitter.com/6EK0gfMgLh
— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) March 14, 2024
Salah will turn his attention next to the FA Cup quarter-finals where Liverpool tackle Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
