Mo Salah on target as Liverpool win 5-2 at home
The Egyptian King showed no mercy on his return. We are almost running out of words of describing Mo Salah’s debut season in England. The Liverpool forward has been on fire this season and has already scored 31 league goals. Liverpool were wounded by losing Coutinho in January but Salah has made that loss almost look like it is not a big deal. Roma also lost Palmieri who left for Chelsea, Salah who left for Liverpool as well as their legend Totti who went into retirement. The two teams are almost in the same predicament but they have believed in their abilities this season which has seen them go places.
Liverpool faced Roma tonight in the first leg of the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and this feature was unthinkable at the start of the season. The most obvious names of PSG, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester City, and Manchester United are already out but yet these two teams remain. Liverpool kicked off the match with a fierce attacking play that saw them create chances that were missed by Mane and Firmino in succession. It took a while before the man of the moment found the back of the net from a nicely curled effort at the edge of the box. Salah could not celebrate out of respect for his former club but what a beautiful strike it was. With his abilities, Messi has not been missed at this stage of the competition. Dejan Lovren almost made it 2-0 to Liverpool when his header hit the crossbar. Liverpool were eager to score more and Firmino found Salah on the break and the forward chipped the ball over the keeper to score his second of the night in the 45th minute. This was his 43rd goal of the season and he is now 3 shy of the all-time record at Liverpool held by Ian Rush who was in the stands to watch the African player shine against Roma.
Sadio Mane came from the break to score on the 56th minute to make it 3-0 to Liverpool. It looked all Liverpool in this match before the man of the match, Roberto Firmino scored a brace between the 61st and the 68th minutes. 5-0! Surely, Roma were out. But the team continued to fight until they scored two; the first from Dzeko and a penalty from Perotti in the 85th minute. Roma reduced the defeat to 3 goals and are planning to pull off another come back like they did against Barcelona. Will they make Liverpool regret conceding two goals in this 5-2 win at home?
