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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jake Polden

Liverpool fans loved Mohamed Salah putting Kalidou Koulibaly on the ground with skill

Mohamed Salah reminded Liverpool fans of his class by putting Kalidou Koulibaly on the ground with some sensational skill on his first return to the team following injury.

The Egypt striker has been out with a recurring ankle issue, and was an unused substitute in Liverpool's win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League last time out after flying home early from international duty.

Jurgen Klopp confirmed Salah looked "really good" in training ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash with Napoli, and returned him to his starting XI for the group game.

And Salah hit the ground running in just the opening minutes of the match at Anfield, with some skill that took the highly-rated Koulibaly by surprise.

Kalidou Koulibaly closes down Mohamed Salah (BT Sport)

After getting the better of him in a race for a loose ball, Salah was closed down by the Napoli centre-back.

But as Koulibaly attempted to dispossess him, the Egyptian turned quickly and sent the Napoli star crashing to the ground.

Liverpool fans reacted as you'd expect, with one tweeting: "Koulibaly belongs to Salah," and another adding: "I'm hearing Salah dropped Koulibaly again."

Koulibaly attempts to dispossess the Liverpool forward (BT Sport)

Despite Salah looking lively up top for Liverpool, it was the away side who took the lead through Dries Mertens.

The goal evading two VAR reviews - one to check that the Belgian was onside in the build-up to the ball hitting the back of the net, and the other taking a second look at a foul on Virgil van Dijk.

Koulibaly is sent to the ground by Salah (BT Sport)

The Holland international was elbowed in the ribs by Mertens not long before the forward scored, and even had to leave the pitch to receive treatment.

But Van Dijk was able to come back on unlike his team-mate Fabinho, who came off with an injury for Georginio Wijnaldum.

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