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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Mohamed Salah makes mockery of Man City song as new Liverpool target emerges

In a series of chants from the Manchester City fans that ranged from the mildly moronic to the utterly mindless at Anfield on Sunday, there was one that inadvertently hit the right note.

In a desperate attempt to try virtually anything to get under the skin of their Liverpool counterparts, the City supporters in the Anfield Road briefly even tried to belt out the national anthem.

The painfully dim effort at riling up their rivals ended up quietly petering out, but their calls of 'God Save Our King' would prove to be timely given the identity of Liverpool's match-winner, Mohamed Salah.

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The pre-match talk, inevitably, had centred around Erling Haaland, his 15 Premier League goals and a Liverpool defence without confidence or key men in the shape of Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold or Ibrahima Konate.

Salah - the man so affectionately known as the 'Egyptian King' at Anfield - had other ideas, however. He played like a man possessed; determined to remind all of his own wondrous talent across a rip-roaring 90 minutes that might just have transformed Liverpool's entire season.

In somewhat of a tweaked position between wide right and the centre of Liverpool's attack, Salah was inspired. One surging run from near the halfway line landed Nathan Ake on his backside before he won a corner off Ruben Dias in the first half.

It was in the second half, though, that Salah really came to life. After being put through by Roberto Firmino's defence-splitting pass, the 30-year-old carried it a distance before being thwarted by the fingertips of Ederson, whose touch was so faint that Manchester City were awarded a goal kick by referee Anthony Taylor.

With the atmosphere turned up several notches moments later after Phil Foden's goal had been ruled out for a foul on Fabinho by Haaland in the build-up, it was Salah's exquisite first-time cross with the outside of his boot that should have been headed home by Diogo Jota.

As the game crept into the final 15 minutes, Salah would not be denied again by Ederson after he stole a march on Joao Cancelo from Alisson's pinpoint punt before calmly dispatching past the Brazil international in City's goal.

It was only his third of the Premier League season but ninth overall across all competitions that includes the Community Shield. It was also the most compelling piece of evidence yet that Salah is belatedly about to explode into life after his history-making, six-minute-and-12-second hat-trick at Rangers in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Haaland's failure to register means Luis Suarez's 16 goals continues to stand in the Premier League record books as the biggest return across a 10-game stretch. The Uruguayan bagged that remarkable haul between October and December in 2013 and Alisson's successful shutout of the Norwegian sees the Brazilian become just the second goalkeeper this season in the league, after Bournemouth's Mark Travers, to keep Haaland off the scoresheet.

"I never liked playing here," admitted Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, before the match as he chatted with Norwegian TV host Jan-Aage Fjortoft. With two defeats from as many appearances now, Haaland junior will harbour similar sentiments. His time will come, surely, but for now, Liverpool's proud Anfield record against City in the Sheikh Mansour era - just one defeat in a 2021 behind-closed-doors game - is proof that money cannot buy you everything. How Pep Guardiola must loathe this corner of the North West.

For Salah, though, he has his sights on an all-together different Premier League record set by another great marksman of Anfield past in Robbie Fowler.

Sunday's vital winner means the 30-year-old is just eight away from eclipsing the legendary Fowler as Liverpool's top scorer in the Premier League era. For a player whose motivation was to break all the records in his path when he signed his blockbuster new deal in early July, this will unquestionably be the first on his checklist.

The warm embrace between Fowler and Salah on the sidelines at full time said it all: A hug that God saved for the King.

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