Pep Guardiola must feel like there is no escape as Manchester City manager. Five days after Lionel Messi's defeat in Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League final, Guardiola must now face Liverpool's Mohamed Salah. This game could prove crucial to the Premier League title race.
After spending all summer trying to sign Harry Kane (from Tottenham), you can see that Salah's striking rate and balletic movements suggest that the Egyptian international could have been the ideal solution for Guardiola's search to find a prolific forward to replace Sergio Aguero. It's perfect, except that Liverpool may not even consider selling Salah to their closest rivals, as evidenced by Sunday's draw at Anfield.
The sight of City jerseys brings out the best in Salah, a former Chelsea forward. Since arriving from AS Roma in 2017, Salah has scored six goals against Guardiola’s team, one more than Messi against his former Barcelona manager. Only Jamie Vardy (9 from Leicester) and Tottenham's Son Heungmin (7 from Tottenham) have scored more goals than Salah.
Whatever way you look at the 29-year old and his impact over the four years he spent at Anfield, there are staggering numbers. His importance to Jurgen Klopp's side will cause concern among Liverpool supporters until he signs a new contract.
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Salah, who scored at Leeds last month to become the fifth fastest player to reach 100 Premier League goals in a single season, reached the milestone in his 162nd appearance. After scoring goals against Crystal Palace, Brentford and Brentford, he now has 102. If you concentrate on Salah's Liverpool output, and ignore the two goals he scored for Chelsea in the difficult 12 months at Stamford Bridge - he also spent 18 months on loan at Fiorentina or Roma - Salah has scored 100 goals in 151 games for Klopp's side. This is a better ratio than the 160 games that it took Thierry Henry for 100 goals for Arsenal.
Aguero (147), Kane (1141), and Alan Shearer (124) are the fastest to 100 Premier League goals. However, Salah's record is worth comparing to them all because, unlike those three great centre-forwards and centre-forwards above, he is a wide player.
Since joining Liverpool in 2017, Salah has scored six goals against Man City. He could add another six goals against Man City since joining Liverpool in 2017. CLIVE BRUNSKILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Salah enters Sunday's Anfield match against City having scored eight goals in eight games across all competitions this season. However, the unresolved contractual issue is his only concern. Salah is now in the same territory as the Premier League's all time greats, although it may be the off-field numbers, the financial ones, that cause those negotiations to drag on for longer than Anfield would prefer.
Salah has won more Premier League titles than Shearer, and has also done what Henry and Aguero could not: he won a Champions League with Liverpool. Kane's record at Tottenham is remarkable, but none of his goals have ever brought home a trophy.
Didier Drogba won everything with Chelsea, scoring 104 Premier League goals in his nine seasons there. Wayne Rooney was also a multi-winner, both domestically and internationally, with Manchester United. Rooney is the only other player to have scored more than 200 Premier League goals, while Shearer had 208. While Rooney and Drogba were important in their club's successes, they did not have the same influence over their teams as Salah with Liverpool. Liverpool are unstoppable when Salah is at their best. He's held in the same esteem as previous Anfield legends like Kenny Dalglish and Robbie Fowler.
Salah's refusal to acknowledge speculation linking him to Real Madrid, Barcelona, or PSG in the past has not done much to hurt his standing at Liverpool. However, there would be a huge sense of relief around the club if he could be signed to a new contract that would keep him at Anfield for his entire career.
He is 29 years old and clearly has plenty of time to win more trophies, surpass more milestones, and eclipse other Premier League legends. Liverpool will be in pole position for another league title if Salah delivers another match-winning performance Sunday.
