How Mo Salah cemented himself as all-time great in crowning Liverpool campaign – Liverpool FC

Mohamed Salah emphatically delivered on a promise he made to fans last summer, dragging the rest of us all towards the Premier League title atop his wish list 12 months ago.

There is simply no point in writing this man off anymore. The Egyptian King will be done when he says so and until then we are only to assume he will continue to ride this celestial wave until his forties.

When Liverpool’s No. 11 has the bit between his teeth, there is no force quite like him. His unshakeable consistency has enabled him to tear up almost every goalscoring record that stood before him when he arrived at Anfield back in 2017.

And yet, from time to time, he has proven that there is another gear in there somewhere. Where there is any additional incentive to be found, Salah is always willing to reach into his toolbox of superpowers and heave his own boundaries into another dimension.

A king’s coronation

The main man opened his account for the campaign with his customary opening day goal away at Ipswich, the Reds bouncing back from a shaky opening 45 minutes to kick things off on the right foot.

He went on to re-establish Old Trafford as his playground two weeks later, having a hand in all three Liverpool goals and putting a rare three points on the board at the home of our Mancunian neighbours.

Footballing calendars are traditionally designed to split reverse fixtures, and there were 126 days that separated Liverpool’s two meetings with Man United in 2024/25.

During that time, Salah failed to register a goal involvement on just two league occasions. It was turning into a season in front of goal to rival his own in 2017/18 and that of Luis Suarez in 2013/14, but he had added another string to the invisible trademark bow he was starting to fire into the Kop with frightening regularity.

One of those moments came at home to Brighton at the beginning of November. With Man City missing a beat on the south coast at Bournemouth, an opening was presenting itself to throw a hammer down but the Reds had played themselves into a predicament of their own.

Cody Gakpo levelled the scoring with 20 minutes left on the clock with a cross that somehow sailed all the way into the far corner, but it was Salah’s winner moments later that will go down as one of the most pivotal Anfield winners of the title-winning campaign.

If you were to draw up an archetypal Salah goal, it wouldn’t look too far removed from that one. A slick breakaway courtesy of his teammates, cutting inside onto his left, carnage unfolding on the terraces before him. All the hits.

Overcoming the obstacles

While we were being treated to an all-timer spell of Salah sparkle, there was an unwelcome sideshow taking place in the background.

The big three contracts became the only subplot capable of derailing this otherwise unstoppable train and it later transpired that the forward had entertained the possibility that it might just not get done.

The distraction of that, coupled with the burden of fending off father time for another year somehow only served to sharpen the focus. In fact, his relative goal contribution drought fell after the deal got signed.

Doubts over his mortality surface like clockwork around this time of year and his tendency to deteriorate ever so slightly from his usual lofty heights in the twilight weeks of competitive seasons merely added to the fuel of the doubters.

Write him off at your peril. There are seasonal trends to be found within all the game’s greats and fluctuations are part and parcel of the peaks and troughs that come with football.

Recognition to follow, finally?

Let’s get one thing straight, the Ballon d’Or isn’t something we as football fans should ever be losing sleep over.

Elite footballers have every right to see their achievements ratified by individual awards, but that must always come as an afterthought behind the main business of the collective.

The modern supporter appears to have placed the brainchild of a French magazine on a higher pedestal in recent years – or maybe that’s just a sign that I’m getting old.

One thing we do know about Salah, though, is that he is intensely driven by records and statistics. His ability to propel himself into uncharted waters on an annual basis has been powered by a burning desire to go to places forwards have never been before.

For whatever reason, those personal accolades have often passed Liverpool’s talismanic winger by. He was bizarrely overlooked for the African Player of the Year shortlist last October and has never finished inside the top four in the running for FIFA’s highest solo honour.

As things stand, the bookmakers have him as the third favourite for the Ballon d’Or this time around, highlighting once again the slightly odd manner in which the prize is weighted towards each season’s Champions League winner.

Should a ceremony at which the essence at it’s very core is a bit of an ego-tickling exercise be centred so strongly around the efforts of a wider group? Probably not, but what Salah has accomplished this season goes beyond the parameters typically involved in getting the nod.

It feels unlikely that this will be his year and perhaps it may never come, but let’s continue to rejoice in the knowledge that we get to watch his superhuman talent in a red shirt for at least another two years.

Best moment: The aforementioned screamer at home to Brighton.

Worst moment: A passenger during the meek defeat to Newcastle at Wembley.

Role next season: Continuing to be Liverpool’s main attacking force, possibly as vice-captain!

* Read all our player-by-player season reviews here