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Sport

Salah scores twice as Liverpool sink struggling Watford

Salah
Liverpool (UK), Dec. 14, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah kept up his scoring streak against Watford on Saturday at Anfield in a 2-0 win.

The Egyptian scored a brace as the English Premier League (EPL) leaders sealed victory over the bottom club.

The win restored Liverpool’s 11-point advantage over second-placed Leicester City, who host Norwich City later in the day.

It was however Watford’s fourth defeat in five games, and it left new manager Nigel Pearson’s side rooted to the bottom of the table.

Liverpool took the lead with a typically lethal counter-attack in the 38th minute as Sadio Mane collected the ball on the left and released Salah.

He sprinted towards goal before cutting in and curling a shot home with his right foot.

Mane thought he had doubled the lead five minutes after the break, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) showed he was marginally offside when nodding in from Xherdan Shaqiri’s whipped cross.

Salah then scored his eighth league goal against Watford in five matches with a brilliant back-heeled effort in added time to secure the three points for Juergen Klopp’s side.

The visitors had earlier missed the chance to go ahead when Abdoulaye Doucoure mishit his shot after Etienne Capoue escaped the offside trap to set him up.

Watford had scored only nine goals in the league coming into this game, and the reason for that became evident when poor finishing cost them yet again.

An unchallenged Ismaila Sarr scuffed his shot after goalkeeper Alisson Becker parried Gerard Deulofeu’s cross.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Salah angered by Egyptian FA over invalid FIFA votes

Votes
Cairo, Sept. 25, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) Mohamed Salah appears to have again fallen out with Egypt’s football federation.

This was after the country’s votes for FIFA’s player of the year awards were deemed invalid and therefore did not count towards the striker’s overall tally.

FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi beat Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and five-times winner Cristiano Ronaldo to win the award for a record sixth time on Monday.

Salah finished fourth — 20 points behind Messi.

Salah, a national icon in the football-mad African country, removed any reference to Egypt from his official Twitter profile in the wake of Monday’s awards ceremony and his Twitter bio now reads “Footballer for Liverpool FC”.

“Whatever they do to try to change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed,” Salah, who has previously clashed with the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) over image rights, said on Twitter.

The captain and coach of every national football federation affiliated to FIFA get to vote on the player of the year, along with one media representative from each country.

The EFA said captain Ahmed Elmohamady and then-coach Shawky Gharib both picked Salah as their first choice, but their votes were missing from a list released by FIFA.

The omission prompted EFA to write to the global governing body to seek clarification.

The EFA said it sent forms with Elmohamady and Gharib’s votes for Salah well before the deadline.

But FIFA said the forms were invalid because the signatures were in capital letters and they were not signed by the EFA general secretary, which was mandatory.

“The Egyptian FA have received two reminders to submit the properly signed voting forms on Aug. 19, 2019,” a FIFA spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

The Egyptian FA has not submitted a response within the (limited) timeframe until Aug. 21. Therefore, the votes from the Egyptian FA could not be counted.”

FIFA did not clarify if the final standings would have been any different if the votes had been valid.

Although Egypt’s votes from their captain and coach did not count, their media representative Hany Danial’s choices (Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Salah) were listed on FIFA’s website.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Salah at the double as Liverpool dispatch Arsenal at Anfield

Salah

Liverpool (UK), Aug. 24, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) Liverpool made it three wins out of three as Mohamed Salah scored twice in a convincing 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday to take control at the top of the Premier League.

Salah turned on the style after the break at the expense of Arsenal’s close-season signing David Luiz.

The Brazilian’s decision to pull the shirt of the Egyptian gifted Liverpool a penalty to make it 2-0 and turn the game decisively in favour of the hosts.

It was the 12th consecutive Premier League victory for Juergen Klopp’s side.

And it was also their best winning streak in the competition and equalling their record run in the league, matching the streak of victories under Kenny Dalglish in 1990.

“It was a brilliant game from my side so early in the season. It was outstanding,” said Klopp.

“It was a performance full of power, energy, greed and passion, which I think you need to have against a team like Arsenal,” he said.

It was not the mauling Arsenal suffered in their 5-1 loss at Anfield in December.

However, it was certainly an indicator that Unai Emery’s side remain in construction mode and are still a good way behind the elite.

“We are disappointed we lost 3-1 but watching some (of our) players we can be optimistic,” said Gunners manager Unai Emery.

“We have to be realistic but we could fight closer to them. For me today, without the result there were some good periods we showed,” he added.

Emery’s team arrived in positive mood after winning their opening two games and the Gunners’ record signing, winger Nicolas Pepe, could have opened the scoring three times.

After Adrian had raced out of his area and failed to clear, Pepe’s attempted lob from distance fell just wide and shortly after the former Lille winger’s curling shot was not far away.

The Ivory Coast international robbed Jordan Henderson and showed his pace to race goalwards but his shot was well saved by Liverpool’s Spanish keeper.

Four minutes after the re-start however, and not for the first time in his career, Luiz pressed the self-destruct button, blatantly and needlessly pulling Salah’s shirt in the box.

There was little need for VAR to be activated even though the Egyptian didn’t go down under the challenge.

With little protest Salah got up and hammered home the resulting spot-kick.

Luiz’s bad day continued when he was left for dead by Salah on Liverpool’s right flank, and he watched the forward burst goalwards and superbly bury the ball in the far bottom corner.

Substitute Lucas Torreira pulled a goal back for Arsenal in the 85th minute, but the damage had been done. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Sport

Salah, Mane earn braces to send Liverpool top of EPL again

League
Liverpool (UK), April 26, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both struck twice as Liverpool kept the pressure up on English Premier League (EPL) title rivals Manchester City with a 5-0 win on Friday.

Liverpool beat already relegated Huddersfield Town to move to the EPL summit on 91 points, two more than Manchester City.

But Pep Guardiola’s side can regain top spot with a win at Burnley on Sunday.

It took just 14 seconds for Liverpool to go in front, with Huddersfield defender Jon Gorenc Stankovic giving the ball away to Salah just outside the box.

The Egyptian fed Naby Keita who slotted home off the inside of the post.

Mane headed in the second in the 23rd minute.

The Senegalese met a trademark Andy Robertson cross from the left after Virgil Van Dijk had started the move with a surge out from the back.

On the stroke of half-time, Salah put the game beyond Huddersfield.

He latched on to a long pass forward from Trent Alexander-Arnold and knocked the ball past the advancing Jonas Lossl.

Mane scored his second and Liverpool’s fourth in the 66th minute, heading in a deep cross from Jordan Henderson.

He also went close to a hat-trick in the 78th minute when he headed a Xherdan Shaqiri cross against the post.

Salah made it 5-0 with a simple close-range tap-in from a low Robertson cross.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returned to action as a substitute, his first appearance since suffering a knee injury a year ago.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Muhyideen Jimoh and Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Salah shines as clinical Liverpool see off FC Porto in UEFA Champions League

Liverpool
Porto (Portugal), April 17, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) A resurgent Mohamed Salah scored one and set up another to inspire a Liverpool to a 4-1 win over FC Porto in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday.

The 6-1 aggregate victory has however teed them up for a last-four clash with FC Barcelona of Spain.

They held off FC Porto in the early stages at Porto before Salah and Sadio Mane combined for the Senegalese to put them ahead with their first shot on target.

The goal was however given after a VAR review.

Egypt striker Salah doubled the tally after the break and goals from Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk wrapped it up late on.

The Portuguese side had briefly reduced the arrears through Eder Militao, but having lost the first leg 2-0 at Anfield, they never seemed in a position to overturn the deficit.

FC Barcelona had advanced on Tuesday when they won 3-0 in their second leg tie against Manchester United, completing a 4-0 aggregate victory.

Five-times European champions Liverpool, who had produced a scintillating display to beat FC Porto 5-0 in the last-16 at the Dragao stadium last season, had a totally different approach this time.

They soaked up the pressure as Porto made an adventurous start, with Jesus Corona curling a powerful shot just over the bar in the opening minute.

Juergen Klopp’s side looked temporarily toothless, but they were just waiting for their moment — which came in the 26th minute.

Mane latched onto a cross from Salah to beat Iker Casillas from close range but he was initially flagged offside, only for referee Danny Makkelie to check the VAR.

After a two-minute review, the goal was eventually given.

Facing the huge task of scoring four goals to qualify, FC Porto looked stunned, in spite of having attempted 15 shots before the interval.

Salah, who endured a goal drought in March, confirmed he was getting close to his best again when he coolly slotted the ball past Casillas.

That was after collecting a perfect diagonal through ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 65th minute.

It was Salah’s first 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League goal since December, and his first away from Anfield in the competition in 12 months.

Militao soothed the home fans’ suffering a little, beating Roberto Firmino in the air to head home in the 69th minute.

Brazilian Firmino, who had started on the bench as Klopp handed a rare start to Divock Origi, made it 3-1 with a downward header with 13 minutes left.

And Van Dijk headed home a fourth from a corner kick eight minutes later to put the game beyond their hosts.

Tottenham Hotspur will face Ajax Amsterdam in the other semi-final tie of the competition.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Muhyideen Jimoh and Olawale Alabi)

Sport

Klopp never worried about hat-trick hero Salah’s form

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah with the match ball after his hat-trick against Bournemouth on Saturday. REUTERS

Form
Liverpool (UK), Dec. 10, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was never worried about Mohamed Salah being able to follow up his stellar first season at Anfield.

But he did concede that both the player and club must learn to cope with a raised level-of-expectations.

The Egyptian forward, who scored 44 goals for the Merseyside club in all competitions during his debut campaign, fired a brilliant hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Bournemouth.

The win helped to send unbeaten Liverpool top of the English Premier League, and it was further aided by then table-toppers Manchester City’s 0-2 loss to Chelsea later same day.

A dislocated shoulder during the UEFA Champions League final match in May and a disappointing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia seemed to hang over Salah earlier in the season.

But Klopp believes the 26-year-old had never lost his scoring touch.

“I’m interested in the moment but I never judge it, because the moment is just a little part of all what we do,” the German manager told reporters.

“So I was not for one second worried.

“If you score 10 goals in the first five games, everyone will say `It will happen again.’ But if you score 39 (in a season), it will be `Yeah, but it’s not 41’.

“So, we all have to learn to deal with it, and of course he (Salah) has to as well. He has never had a season like that. And he wants to have the season again.”

The three goals against Bournemouth took Salah’s tally to 10 English Premier League goals this season.

He also became the fastest Liverpool player to reach 40 goals in the competition, after he reached the milestone in his 52nd match.

Liverpool return to action on Tuesday when they host Napoli in a must-win UEFA Champions League group stage encounter.

The Merseyside club, who were beaten by Real Madrid in the final last season, need to win either 1-0 or by two clear goals to progress to the last 16.

“We have the chance with a specific result still to go through when this UEFA Champions League campaign so far was not really ours,” Klopp added.

“We have to be on our toes on Tuesday night. It’s a big one, our people know that and I know they are already warming up.”(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Emmanuel Okara and Olawale Alabi)

 

Sport

Ronaldo, Modric and Salah on FIFA player of the year shortlist

Ronaldo, Modric and Salah on FIFA player of the year shortlist

Shortlist

Zurich (Switzerland), Sept. 3, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah have been nominated as finalists for ‘The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award,’ world football’s governing body announced on Monday.

Ronaldo, who has won the award for the last two years, helped Real Madrid claim a third consecutive Champions League crown, before securing a transfer to Juventus.

Midfielder Modric, also part of Madrid’s Champions League triumph, finished runner-up with Croatia at the World Cup, winning the best player award at the tournament in Russia.

Egyptian forward Salah scored 44 goals for Liverpool last season, helping the English club reach the Champions League final where they were beaten by Real.

France’s World Cup winning captain Hugo Lloris is in contention for the goalkeeper of the year award, alongside Golden Glove winner Thibaut Courtois and Danish shot-stopper Kasper Schmeichel.

Former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, France coach Didier Deschamps and Croatia’s Zlatko Dalic were on the shortlist for coach of the year award.

The women’s player of the year award will be contested between Olympique Lyonnais duo Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Marozsan, and Brazil’s triumphant Copa America Femenina captain Marta.

Hergerberg and Marozsan enjoyed an unbeaten league season and lifted the Women’s Champions League.

The awards ceremony will take place in London on Sept. 24. (Reuters/NAN)

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Edited by Kamal Tayo Oropo

Sport

Salah accuses Egyptian FA of ignoring complaints over image rights

Complaints

Cairo, Aug. 27, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has revived a dispute with his country’s football association and accused them of ignoring his complaints over image rights.

The 26-year-old was upset in April when his image was used to promote Egypt’s official sponsor WE, while Salah has a sponsorship deal with rival company Vodafone.

“It’s normal that a football federation seeks to solve the problems of its players so they can feel comfortable.

“But in fact, what I see is exactly the opposite,” Salah said on Twitter.

“It is not normal that my messages and my lawyer’s messages are ignored. I don’t know why all this (is happening). Do you not have time to respond to us?!”

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said in a statement it would address a letter sent by Salah’s lawyer, Ramy Abbas, on Monday.

Abbas also tweeted: “We asked for guarantees regarding Mohamed’s wellbeing whilst with the national team, and assurances that the image rights violations wouldn’t happen again. That’s all.

“They have yet to respond.”

Salah is expected to be called up for Egypt’s next international, an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger on Sept. 8. (Reuters/NAN)

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Sport

Ronaldo, Modric, Salah on UEFA player of the year shortlist

Ronaldo, Modric, Salah on UEFA player of the year shortlist
Shortlist
Nyon (Switzerland), Aug. 20, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah have been short-listed for the UEFA Player of the Year award, the sport’s European governing body said on Monday.
Ronaldo, who won the award last season, helped Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League title and finished as the competition’s top scorer with 15 goals.
The Portuguese, who has three wins in total, is the only player to have made the shortlist every year since UEFA created the award in 2011.
Modric, also part of Madrid’s Champions League winning team, finished runner-up with Croatia at the World Cup, winning the best player award at the tournament in Russia.
Salah scored 44 goals for Liverpool last season, helping the English club reach the Champions League final where they lost to Real Madrid.
VfL Wolfsburg striker Pernille Harder and Olympique Lyonnais forward Ada Hegerberg and defensive midfielder Amandine Henry were short-listed for the women’s award.
The awards will be presented at this season’s Champions League group-stage draw in Monaco on Aug. 30. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Salif Atojoko
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Sport

Liverpool refer Salah to police over alleged phone use while driving

Salah
Liverpool (UK), Aug. 14, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Liverpool have referred Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah to the Merseyside Police over a video which appears to show the Egyptian using his mobile phone while driving.

No specific details have been released about when or where the video was taken, or by whom.

“The club, after discussion with the player, have made Merseyside Police aware of the footage and the circumstances surrounding its capture,” an LFC spokesman told British media.

“We have spoken to the player also and will deal with any follow-up internally.

“Neither the club nor player will be making any further comment on this matter.”

Merseyside Police confirmed they were aware of the footage.

“We have been made aware of a video believed to show a footballer using a mobile phone whilst driving,” the Merseyside Police Contact Centre said on their official Twitter account.

“This has been passed to the relevant department.”(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Omolade Michael and Olawale Alabi)