Mo Salah had to wait until the 95th minute to score Liverpool’s winning goal at Burnley last weekend – he went to the other extreme with his decisive impact against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Having begun last season with three goals and assists each after just three matches, he’s had a more subdued start to the current campaign, having scored twice and set up another goal in his first five games of 2025/26.
Inside the first six minutes against Diego Simeone’s side, both of those tallies were bumped up by one. His early free kick cannoned off Andy Robertson and the ball trickled into the net, but there was nothing fortunate about his emphatic finish past Jan Oblak shortly afterwards.
Salah emulates Steve McManaman feat from 1996
In registering both a goal and an assist by the sixth minute last night, Salah accomplished something not seen by a Liverpool player in almost three decades.
As Ian Doyle noted for the Liverpool Echo, the Egyptian became the first man for LFC to score and assist in the first six minutes of a match since Steve McManaman just under 30 years ago.
That came in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in March 1996, when remarkably all of the goals occurred inside the opening eight minutes. On that day, the Bootle native scored after just 78 seconds and soon set up Robbie Fowler for a masterful finish to double the Reds’ lead.
Salah could have had another goal and assist last night, too!
Salah hasn’t been at his exhilarating best in the early weeks of this season, but he still has three goals and two assists to his name – and he ought to have had another of each last night!
The Egyptian had the chance to put Liverpool 3-1 up during the second half at the end of a swift counterattack, only to hit the post. Then, in added time he teed up for Hugo Ekitike for what looked like being a tap-in, but the Frenchman inexplicably missed the target from less than 10 yards out.
The 33-year-old’s performance against Atletico was more like the brilliantly effervescent forward we’ve come to idolise over the past decade, with our number 11 yet again rising to the fore on a Champions League night.
The Reds will be looking to him to hit the same standards again in the Merseyside derby on Saturday, just as he did when scoring both goals in a 2-0 Anfield win a couple of years ago.
I’m happy that Salah is regaining his best form, he shows that he still has it as a quality player! Wirtz, like Isak, needs time to play himself into his best form. Both are top quality players who WILL give Liverpool the outright competitive edge once they regain their form. Wirtz needs to fully adapt to the English game of tight close marking and rough tackles with no inch given!
Lastly, it was a mistake not to start Ekitike yesterday given the form he is in, this tends to deflate players which affects their game. Isak must play his way into the starting line up as a substitute, Slot must not bow to public demand sometimes. Just as Slot must get the balance between attack and defence right to avoid giving away strong leads!!
LFC needs its defence bolstered by 2 top quality defenders come the January window, and one “huge potential” understudy. Too many goals are leaking in right now, and until their forwards hit their straps, they will soon run out of recovery luck to win games in the dying minutes! This is where missing out on Guehi hits home, I hope LFC does not make the same mistake again.
Reasons to be cheerful, chaps.
The Reds are winning close games without firing on all cylinders.
It’ll click… Have faith.
All will happen as it should, when it should…
There’ll be a well deserved steamrolling coming sometime, it’s a long old season..
The beauty of these close games at the moment, even if they are an emotional wringer at times, is they’re great entertainment for the neutral.
ie. New young fans in the U.K. and U.S. markets, as well as in Africa and Asia will keep that revenue to fund future success.
What other clubs are such great value over 90+mins ?
And Oubs, use paragraphs matey. It makes your well made points an easier read😃😃😃
Onwards and upwards for the derby and keep account of the added time this time, referee !😉
Not sure that a defensive weakness was to blame for second AM goal last night as the shot took a huge deflection off Macalistar which left little chance to our goalie: bit like our first goal. If our attack had been a bit sharper we would have put this match to sleep early in second half and finished with a half a dozen goals