Time for Mohamed Salah to join Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as Liverpool run riot against Roma

Chris Bailey 01:27 25/04/2018
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  • Mohamed Salah’s wonder season reached new heights at Anfield as the Egypt superstar showed no mercy against his former team in Roma.

    He scored two and made two, for Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, before the former nodded home to make it five in the second half.

    Yet Roma have a flicker of hope heading into the second leg. Liverpool’s defence buckled after Salah was taken off with 15 minutes to go as Edin Dzeko and a Diego Perotti penalty spoiled a perfect night for the hosts.

    Salah joins the elite

    It’s that time. You may have been scared to say it but no longer do you risk being shot down. These three players belong in the same sentence: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo … Mohamed Salah.

    Salah will almost certainly never catch up to the amount of trinkets that Messi and Ronaldo have won but for the present, the Egyptian can stand shoulder to shoulder with two of the all-time greats.

    Hearts start twitching every time he picks up the ball in enemy territory. The searing pace, the cunning movement and the cold-blooded finishing to match – no player in world football is his superior in these departments.

    The finish off his left side was a dream disguised as a football and on the super-slick turf, how he caressed that chip so delicately over Alisson was yet another joy to behold.

    Neymar hightailed it out of Barcelona to try and do exactly what Salah has done at Liverpool in Paris. As it stands, the Brazilian is the fourth Beatle to this all-star band of Ronaldo, Messi and Salah.

    Manolas sparks madness     

    Rewind the tape and you’ll find Roma were rather good for the first 20 minutes or so. Just like against Barca at the Stadio Olimpico, their heavies in midfield led by Radja Nainggolan choked off the supply. Dzeko, with a sublime touch or two, ruffled the feathers of Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk. With one stinging shot Aleksandr Kolarov made Loris Karius look like Loris Karius again.

    Then one incident on the break chewed the game up and spat it out. Quarter-finals hero Kostas Manolas pushed up far too much and lost an aerial duel in midfield, releasing Sadio Mane clean through.

    Roma imploded then before our very eyes and if Mane hadn’t have left his shooting boots in the dressing room, we’d have been looking at a cricket score.

    The Giallorossi were second to every ball and continually gave the ball away in their own half. Given their sluggish defence up against all that pace, every other facet to the defensive structure had to be inch-perfect for them to have any chance.

    An embarrassment. Until …

    Liverpool keep the tie alive

    Liverpool, the great entertainers that they are, ensured that there is a reason to watch the return leg at the Stadio Olimpico next week.

    Jurgen Klopp, clearly with one eye on Stoke this weekend, in his infinite wisdom brought off the one man who scares the freckles off defenders.

    Roma visibly relaxed when Salah was removed for the rather inferior Danny Ings for the last 15 minutes and, mindful they were no longer being attacked with speed from all sides, threw caution to the wind rather than worrying about damage limitation.

    Dzeko’s superbly taken goal only worried the Liverpool defence further and Perotti’s dubious penalty aside – James Milner having deemed to have handled the ball – without exaggeration they had enough chances to level the game.

    News of this type of vulnerability will have the pricked the ears of anyone connected to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Can Salah and co be stopped over a full 90 minutes? Good luck. But throw the likes of Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski at this defence and watch those knees wobble.

    The Reds are virtually guaranteed to make Kiev and it’s going to be one of the most exciting Champions League finals of all time. Mark these words.

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