Salah prompted by Messi’s claim to stun the world

Mohamed Salah transported football standards into a different stratosphere during his first season at Anfield as he lived up to his nickname ‘Egyptian Messi’.

The Liverpool superstar bagged 44 goals across all competitions in his opening campaign and went on to win a plethora of awards for his simply incredible efforts.

Four of those strikes came during one match against Watford when the Reds thumped the Hornets 5-0 on this day in 2018.

Those watching on were left stunned at how one player could produce such a performance and here’s what the media made of the Egyptian at the time.

Mohamed Salah last week starred in an acclaimed advert featuring some of Liverpool’s most historic sights. Anfield, though, remains the perfect stage on which to showcase his own outrageous talents.

The Egyptian continued to set new standards as Liverpool responded to Jurgen Klopp’s call by overcoming both the weather and Watford to strengthen claims for a top-four finish.

Given Premier League defences have struggled to contain Salah, it was perhaps no surprise the wintry elements proved no barrier.

A sensational four-goal haul – with an assist for Roberto Firmino thrown in for good measure – moved him on to 36 goals in 41 games during a remarkable first Liverpool campaign in which he shows no signs of relenting.

Salah now has the most amount of goals scored by a Liverpool player during a debut season, surpassing the previous best of 33 by Fernando Torres.

Indeed, Torres, John Aldridge, and Luis Suarez never netted so many in a single term for the Reds.

No player in Europe’s top five leagues has scored more goals this season. In a season of so many highs, so many spectacular goals, this was something special from Salah, made all the more memorable by it being achieved amid constant snow flurries. The images from the evening will resonate for years to come.

And, whisper it quietly, that Egyptian Messi tag does not look misplaced on this evidence.

There are various ways of measuring the jaw-dropping impact that Mohamed Salah is having at Liverpool, but one message in particular scribbled on his first souvenir match ball served to encapsulate his feats succinctly.

“I just kept it simple for him,” said captain Jordan Henderson. “I just wrote, ‘Well done superstar.’ ”

And in those three words, he summed up the phenomenon that Salah has become; a clinical goalscorer whose penalty-box prowess does not simply astound his opponents, as Watford’s bamboozled backline could testify, but also his manager.

Jürgen Klopp confessed afterward that he was not expecting this. Not 36 goals by mid-March certainly and, in truth, probably not half that amount by this stage of the campaign.

Apart from Salah not being Klopp’s first choice last summer (his credentials were continually pushed by the sporting director Michael Edwards, the head of recruitment Dave Fallows and the chief scout Barry Hunter after Bayer Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt opted to stay put), the Egyptian was expected to contribute from wide areas after his arrival from Roma but not emerge as a talisman.

In a season containing nearly as many superlative descriptions as goals scored, Mohamed Salah continued to write his own Liverpool destiny with four superb finishes in a personal performance at Anfield that was as complete and as ruthless as anything this famous stadium has seen down the decades.

Watford will have returned home last night wondering how they were on the end of such a sobering scoreline. They were by no means a shambles.

Yet, in sport, ability generally finds a way of shining through and Salah’s class is so clearcut, so emphatic and so enjoyable that he is comfortably the Premier League’s most attractive sight at present.

The really frightening thing was he barely broke sweat – his goals completely dismantled Watford yet he maintained a relaxed, smiley air throughout.

Two of his goals carried the same jinking manner and positional nous as that displayed by Lionel Messi, and Jürgen Klopp noted that Salah’s form this season is making comparisons between the two increasingly valid.

His record, this season at least, is better than Messi. Mohamed Salah has now scored more times in a debut campaign than any Liverpool player in the club’s entire history.

He reached number 36 here via a four-goal haul, surpassing Fernando Torres in the record books and surpassing Messi’s total, albeit in two fewer games.

Surely only Sergio Agüero can stop Salah now from topping the Premier League charts come May when you take into account Harry Kane’s injury.

It is worth remembering too Salah did not arrive from Roma last summer as a forward.

For his recruitment at a fee that now feels like loose change, you have to credit Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s sporting director.

For Salah’s subtle repositioning, you have to credit Jürgen Klopp and commend his vision.

For delivering, you can only credit the player, who is currently in the process of redefining expectations on wingers in this country.

They played Ken Dodd’s signature tune ‘Happiness’ at half-time as a tribute to the legendary Liverpool comedian who died last week.

Read Also:Salah Beats Mane To Liverpool Goal Of The Month Award

As a great entertainer and close friend of Bill Shankly, Doddy would have appreciated what the club have in Mo Salah.

Salah hits new heights each time he plays. His first hat-trick for Liverpool on Saturday night ended up as a four-goal haul; two worldies and two poacher’s finishes.