UCL: Pundits laud Salah’s wonderful goal against Red Bull

Five yards from the byeline. Outside the box. On his weaker foot. With a defender between him and the line. After missing a hatful of chances. Yet somehow Mohamed Salah found away. Football pundits across the world praised the wonderful goal scored by the Liverpool striker.

The Egyptian’s remarkable strike against Red Bull Salzburg secured a victory for Liverpool which made sure of the holders’ place in the Champions League last 16.

“The angle is outrageous. I’m thinking ‘it’s on your weaker foot Mo, you can’t do this’ but he does and it’s an outrageous finish from his hardest opportunity of the night,” said former Reds defender Stephen Warnock, who was watching the 2-0 win in Austria for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen said the goal was “off the scale”, while another ex-Reds forward Peter Crouch called it “ridiculous”.

It was some night for the usually deadly Salah, who had already missed a host of chances – including some sitters – by the time he scored.

After only five minutes he raced onto a Dejan Lovren pass but then shot straight at the keeper.

Then he missed a glorious chance from six yards out after being found in space by Naby Keita – failing to even hit the target.

Next was a free-kick which he hit high and wide.

It was more of the same after the break. Sadio Mane picked him out well but with just the keeper to beat he lifted his shot over the bar.

Seconds later Salah ran onto a through ball and tried to go around Cican Stankovic but showed too much of the ball to the goalkeeper.

But perhaps he was just finding his range because the next time he had a chance – his most difficult of the night – he settled matters in style.

When Salzburg defender Jerome Onguene headed Jordan Henderson’s long pass into his path, Salah was able to take the ball in his stride, leaving the keeper for dead. But he still had so much hard work to do, somehow managing to squeeze the ball through the tiny gap and into the back of the net.

Mohamed Salah scores for Liverpool
How?!
“Mo scored the most difficult situation of the whole night!” an incredulous manager Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport. “I have no idea [how]. With his quality, how he didn’t score one or two of the others I have no clue.

“He played really well but didn’t score in the situations we expect him usually to score, but staying on track and making such a decisive and very difficult finish, that probably says much more about him than all of the other goals he has scored. So, staying concentrated, belief in the next moment, it was brilliant. A very, very difficult goal but a sensational finish.”

“It was probably his toughest chance,” said Reds left-back Andy Robertson. “Mo puts a lot of pressure on himself to score goals. He’s taken a ridiculous goal. I don’t know how it got in, especially on his weaker foot.”

That, unsurprisingly, was the first time he had scored a right-footed goal outside the penalty area since arriving in Europe in 2012.

He still managed time for another four shots without scoring after that. In fact almost 25% of his touches in the entire game were shots (nine out of 37).

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BBC pundit Warnock added: “He could have easily had six or seven goals tonight. His finishing has been very, very poor by his standards.