When Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool in 2017, two years removed from a disappointing stint in England at Chelsea, I’m sure that nobody would have foreseen the Egyptian hitting 250 goals for the club just eight years later.
With his opening goal last Saturday in a 2-0 win against Aston Villa, Salah didn’t just hit 250 goals, he tied Wayne Rooney’s record of the most goal involvements for a single Premier League side with 276 G/A.
Here are ten of Salah’s best goals in Liverpool red.
10. Salzburg (A) - Champions League, 2019-20
In the season when Salah helped bring Liverpool to title glory for the first time in 30 years, the Egyptian quietly scored one of the best European goals you’ll ever see.
Taking on Salzburg away from home, the Reds needed a win to progress to the Champions League knock-outs.
Salah picked up a loose ball and rounded the goalkeeper. Then, from an impossible angle on his weak foot, he produced a chip that seemingly defied physics.
9. Everton (A) - Premier League, 2020-21
The following season, Salah hit his 100th goal for Liverpool during the Merseyside derby, and his first at Goodison Park.
After a failed cross that rebounded off of Yerry Mina, the winger crashed in an instinctive half-volley with virtually no backlift.
The Reds would go on to have a disappointing season as defending champions, famously losing five home games in a row, but not Salah – he ended the campaign with 31 goals and 6 assists.
8. Manchester City (A) - Champions League, 2017-18
During his famous debut season for Liverpool, in which he scored 44 goals across all competitions, Salah took his side to a Champions League final.
The Reds faced Manchester City in the quarter-finals. After a blowout first leg at Anfield, which Guardiola’s side lost 3-0 with Salah scoring and assisting, Liverpool went to the Etihad Stadium.
Gabriel Jesus scored for the hosts inside two minutes and City threatened to stage a comeback. Up steps Mohamed Salah with a finish as cool as ice and the celebration to match.
7. Southampton (A) - Premier League, 2018-19
In the prologue to their Premier League win the season after, Jurgen Klopp’s team went toe-to-toe with Manchester City and ended the season with 97 points. It was just one point behind Guardiola’s side and both teams won their last nine matches in a row.
Southampton threatened to derail Liverpool’s title hopes, with the game tied at 1-1 in the 80th minute. Salah, who hadn’t scored in his last eight games, carried the ball from the halfway line in a counter-attack.
Fans screamed at their televisions to pass. But he didn’t, instead whipping it into the bottom corner and marching stern-faced towards the away end, as if to say, 'What do you take me for?'
6. Manchester United - Premier League, 2022-23
This was a torrid season for the Reds, finishing fifth under Klopp. But all dark clouds have a silver lining, and for Liverpool this was a historic 7-0 beatdown of their biggest rivals, Manchester United.
After providing an assist that twisted Lisandro Martinez into a cheesestring, the Egyptian received the faintest of opportunities to score himself.
He battered a half-volley in off the crossbar to make it 4-0 and tied Robbie Fowler’s record of the most Premier League goals scored for Liverpool. He went on to break it with another goal 20 minutes later.
5. Watford - Premier League, 2021-22
When you ask people to think of prime Salah, you’re likely to get a mix of answers.
Narrow it down to one month and you might just find a consensus view. It’s October 2021 and the Egyptian is making headlines every week.
After one of the finest individual performances in English football history against Manchester City the week before, Salah went on the road to Watford.
In the 54th minute, he wriggled his way past a crowd of defenders akin to the morning rush on the Tube and bent in a far-post finish. Even the Watford fans gave a standing ovation.
4. Chelsea - Premier League, 2018-19
Another week in the best title race of all time. With his goal drought over, Salah was on lightning hot form and faced off against his old team Chelsea at Anfield.
He pre-assisted Sadio Mane’s opener with a quick one-two in the box with Jordan Henderson, then, just two minutes later, he brought down a diagonal switch from Virgil Van Dijk.
What happens next is pure instinct: a thunderbolt fizzing in from an angle nobody has any right to score from. Anfield has never been louder since.
3. Roma - Champions League, 2017-18
The world is talking about Mohamed Salah. It’s April 2018 and the Egyptian is matching Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the hunt for the European Golden Boot.
Now he’s facing his old side in a Champions League semi-final, the brightest the lights have ever been for the winger.
He opens the scoring with a curler for the ages then holds his hands to the sky, head down, as Anfield roars around him.
The game finishes 5-2 to Liverpool, with Salah scoring twice and assisting twice.
2. Bournemouth - Premier League, 2017-18
This one is from the archives. It’s still 2018 and Mohamed Salah cannot stop scoring.
He’s in pursuit of the Premier League goal record and it’s starting to feel like nothing will stop him. Trent Alexander-Arnold whips in a delicious cross, then the 5 foot 9 Egyptian lobs the Premier League’s tallest goalkeeper with a header facing away from the goal.
Read that again. Watch it again. Unreal.
1. Manchester City - Premier League, 2021-22
It just had to be. October 2021 Salah scores a goal never before seen in a fixture of this magnitude, and a goal we’ll perhaps never see again. It’s a clash between England’s two best teams and the score is 1-1.
Salah had hopped past Cancelo 20 minutes prior to assist Sadio Mane’s equaliser. In the 76th minute, the Egyptian planted Bernardo Silva on the ground like a small child being scolded, then committed what could be considered a crime against City’s two centre-backs.
Finally, he thumped it in off the post on his weak foot, reeling away with a finger to his ear.
This went on to win the Premier League’s Goal of Season and will likely be the defining strike of the Egyptian’s career once he hangs up his boots.
