How Salah missed first EPL penalty for Liverpool in over four years
Deadly Mohamed Salah suffered penalty despair as Liverpool lost at Leicester in the Premier League on Tuesday – with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel the hero as the Reds’ long run of perfect penalties abruptly ended.
Inspired Schmeichel stopped Salah’s spot kick after 15 minutes at the King Power Stadium, watched with relief as the runaway top scorer in the top flight headed the rebound against the crossbar and then produced another astonishing save to thwart the striker again just after the half-hour mark.
Kasper Schmeichel’s (left) gets set for Salah’s penalty
Former hotshot Alan Shearer felt Salah’s pain as he saw the prolific hitman fail from 12 yards in the Premier League for the first time since 28 October 2017, when he misfired during a 3-0 home win over Huddersfield.
Lethal penalty taker Shearer told Amazon Prime Video Sport: ‘Mohamed Salah’s scored his last 15 Premier League penalties, but not on that occasion – it was poor.
Salah fired the spot kick firmly with 15 minutes gone of the Premier League game on Tuesday night
Schmeichel guessed correctly, soaring to his left and applying two strong hands to the effort
The Dane’s heroics thrilled the home fans at the King Power Stadium as his side remained level
‘He’s trying to hang in the air for the rebound, isn’t he? But he just goes too early and he can’t get above it enough.
‘It must have been agony for him when he’s hitting the bar there after two glorious chances.’
Thierry Henry, who is sixth on the all-time list of Premier League scorers which is topped by Shearer, was impressed by Schmeichel’s reflexes when he produced another spectacular subsequent save to deny Salah.
Henry purred: ‘That one is a hell of a save. Leicester should have been, maybe, one or two-nil down – but it didn’t happen.
In an improbable further twist, the usually-deadly Salah headed the rebound against the bar
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‘If it hadn’t been for Schmeichel, they’d have been 2-0 down. I don’t even know how he touched that.’
Speaking about the rebound from the penalty, former Republic of Ireland international Andy Reid told BBC 5 Live: ‘I don’t know how it didn’t go in.
‘It looked as if the ball was hanging in the air for quite a bit. It wasn’t a great penalty.’