Champions League

Liverpool's much-criticised but now historic Champions League player

Reds star has underperformed, but could shine against Rangers 

By Charles Cornwall

12/10/2022, 10:04 PM

Reds star has underperformed, but could shine against Rangers 

The fact that Mohamed Salah started the Champions League game against Rangers on the bench was not because of his poor display against Arsenal, but rather a strategic move by Jurgen Klopp to rest the Egyptian so that he could be at his best against Manchester City, but even though the 11-goaler only played for half an hour, he was able to score and even break an English club record.

Until before the Liverpool-Rangers game, the Egyptian's playing statistics were compared to a pair of players who also paid dividends for their English clubs in Champions League action, with Didier Drogba, formerly of Chelsea, and Sergio Aguero, formerly of Manchester City, holding the record for most goals scored as part of an English team in Europe's top competition, both with 36, with the Liverpool player a step behind on 35.

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With only a goal difference and Salah starting from the bench, the chances of breaking this record shared by the Frenchman and the Argentinian looked complicated, and even more so as Klopp only gave him half an hour of the game against the Scottish side. Although the minutes were scarce for the Egyptian attacker, he was able to come on and just seven minutes after coming on he had already equalled the record of these two historic Premier League goalscorers.

Faced with a Rangers side that had been beaten by Liverpool, the Reds attacker took the opportunity to continue generating offensive moves until he was still able to find a couple of goals that surpassed the record of these two English teams, awarding Salah another record in Europe's top competition with the Merseyside institution, serving as an incentive and as a motivating factor so that he can gradually return to his best level and help this team to get out of the slump they are going through.

<strong>Mohamed Salah sets new Champions League goals record</strong>

With the record set by the Egyptian now at 38 goals, it will be a while before another player of his calibre can hold the record, although Manchester City are confident that their new star will be able to break all those records, as Erling Haaland's scoring average is incredibly high this season, taking him just a couple of more editions to be able to return the Citizens to the record that is now painted in red.

 

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