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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Blow

Peter Crouch issues response after Mohamed Salah matches his unusual record

Mohamed Salah became only the second player to score against both AC Milan and Inter Milan in the same Champions League campaign on Wednesday evening.

The Egyptian scored Liverpool's second goal to hand Jurgen Klopp's side a crucial 2-0 lead over Inter heading into the second leg at Anfield next month.

Salah also found the back of the net against Inter's rivals Milan - home and away - during the group stage, leaving the forward with 24 goals to his name this term.

The first player to score against both Milan clubs in the same Champions League campaign was Peter Crouch, who was on hand to congratulate Salah on Thursday.

Former Liverpool striker Crouch - who was playing for Tottenham at the time - achieved the feat in 2010-11 under the guidance of Harry Redknapp.

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Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool's second goal on Wednesday evening (Getty Images)

Crouch found the back of the net in Spurs' 3-1 group-stage win at White Hart Lane against Inter before scoring the only goal in the 1-0 aggregate victory against Milan in the last 16.

On finding out Salah had joined him in the exclusive club, Crouch tweeted: "That was the record he wanted. Well done Mo, you should be proud."

Salah's goal against Inter was his eighth consecutive away strike in the Champions League, meaning he's just four away from matching Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible record.

The Portuguese icon found the back of the net in 12 consecutive European away days during his time at Real Madrid, where he won four Champions League titles.

James Milner, meanwhile, also achieved a milestone on Wednesday - making his 800th club appearance after replacing Thiago Alcantara in the 86th minute.

The Englishman has previously represented Leeds, Swindon Town, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Manchester City - making his professional debut nearly 20 years ago.

Although Salah scored against Inter, Liverpool's defence dominated the headlines after another solid performance. The Reds have conceded just twice in their last eight games.

"We defended really well, the way you have to defend – we like to win the ball early," said Klopp after the game.

"But if that is not possible… and against them it is really not possible because they make the pitch really big, the three centre-backs, they pass a lot of back passes to them and then from there they go diagonal to either [Denzel] Dumfries or [Ivan] Perisic.

Peter Crouch scored the winning goal in the San Siro in February 2011 (Getty Images)

"That makes it really tricky, so you have to defend with passion; organisation helps as well but with passion and I thought defensively it was a really strong performance.

"But it would be silly if we wouldn't defend well because it means a lot to us this competition and these games, so we invested a lot and it's good."

Virgil van Dijk added: "Everyone expected to be under pressure because they are a very good team and it’s the Champions League.

"I think also one of the messages before the game was, 'You need to be ready to suffer, you need to be ready to do the hard work.' And we definitely did.

"It’s a very, very good performance, a clean sheet and well, happy days."

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