Mo Salah wasn’t among Liverpool’s five goalscorers in their emphatic win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, but his name was still prominent among the post-match headlines.
Having been dropped to the bench and only come on for the final 16 minutes of normal time, the Egyptian was unable to add to his unusually low tally of three goals for the season despite having a couple of half-chances late on.
It was initially reported by some journalists at the game that the 33-year-old went ‘straight down the tunnel’ at the full-time whistle and ‘looked in a strop’, and he may have prompted panic among Reds supporters by removing references to the club from his header image and profile photo on X.
Salah seen applauding Liverpool fans before leaving the pitch
On Thursday morning, Lewis Steele took to X to share footage clarifying what Salah actually did immediately after the match last night.
The 18-second clip shows Liverpool’s number 11 taking a moment to applaud the travelling Reds fans before then proceeding towards the tunnel, with the journalist stressing that the winger didn’t immediately make a beeline for the away dressing room at Deutsche Bank Park.
Salah deserves our backing during this tough spell for him
The footage should clear up any misconceptions that Salah simply disappeared in a huff as soon as the final whistle blew in Frankfurt, and it’s natural that the Egyptian might feel frustrated that things aren’t coming off for him at the moment as they have done throughout his eight years on Merseyside.
We suspect that nobody is harder on the 33-year-old than he is on himself, and as a member of Arne Slot’s leadership group, he’ll feel a responsibility to be one of the Reds’ standard bearers on the pitch.
What nobody should lose sight of, though, is the extent to which the tragic loss of Diogo Jota over the summer has had on our number 11, who was tearful when his late teammate’s name was sung at Anfield on the opening night of the season in August.
Of course we’d like for Salah’s G/A numbers for the current campaign to be higher, but this man doesn’t owe anything to Liverpool for what he’s given us on an extraordinarily consistent basis since joining in 2017.
Amid the toughest spell of his Reds career to date, the Egyptian King deserves our backing, and we’d love nothing more than to once again see that beaming smile as he celebrates finding the net for his club.
You can view the footage of Salah applauding the travelling Liverpool fans below, via @LewisSteele_ on X:
Will get grief in the replies but worth noting Mo Salah clapped the fans before being quick down the tunnel last night. A since-deleted tweet I did suggested he was *straight* down the tunnel as that’s what I saw. I missed him clapping. Apologies, must do better 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/gElmNc30JS
— Lewis Steele (@LewisSteele_) October 23, 2025
It’s self indulgent people like Lewis Steele who feel that they are important, and post negative reports about players that cause some fans to believe what they are told and form opinions. Give it a rest mate, you’re just a voice, no more.
I don’t know if Lewis is more or less “self-indulgent” in his opinion than anyone else, Ted.
He’s a professional journalist who does his homework on how he forms and portrays his opinions on the subjects he writes and is asked about, as far as I know.
One doesn’t have to read his opinion either, that’s one’s choice.
Debate, yes, if one thinks there’s something stated without basis in fact, or something prejudicial, that’s fine.
A democracy should always have a spectrum of opinions, whether it’s about politics, or football.
Lewis cleared up the factual omission he made over Mo’s actions last night.
The beauty of online media means it can be sorted out asap.
Haven’t we all found ourselves making a mistake and upon becoming aware of a truth we may have missed, had to re-evaluate our initial thoughts ?
There’s no shame in that, in fact it shows honour.
NEVER apologising when mistakes are made shows arrogance and toxicity.
Everyone of us is a voice, whether we are working as journalists or just as public citizens.
Are there some out there who wish to shut others up when they speak the truth because they have something to hide ?
All very laudable of you, I’m sure, to protect this journalist. Trouble is, a Lie races round the world before the truth has laced its boots.
This man has made up a story without checking it and has unnecessarily added to the ocean of fake news. There’s no guarantee those who read his first lie will read the truth in his retraction. As he says himself, it’s lazy journalism and poor professionalism. It’s just not good enough.
Spot on!! Very well said.
Never offered the chap any protection, just some understanding and opinion, Kevin, and my intention was never to be lauded.
I merely pointed out that mistakes can be made and moments missed when our attention isn’t on them and that was no need for any hysteria over the issue.
In the grand scheme of things there’s far more concerning events occurring than whether Mo’ applauded the fans or not.
Yes, Lewis is a journalist and he should’ve been sure about what he wrote, but he corrected asap. What else could he have done after the mistake ?
Left it ? What would’ve been the result of doing so ?
Hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
Very well said Kevin. People have an agenda and hear only what fits in to their train of thought. Unfortunately there are a lot of supporters who have ‘arrived’ since the successes and that’s all they’re interested in.
Forget any conflict about any report it is time to wake up and face the coffee – The career of Mo is ended. He has run his race and like ALL legends before him it is time to leave. His actions in trying to justify during the game lost us a goal simply by his selfish act of ignoring a player placed to simply side-foot a finish. Time he moved on before he really tarnishes his image.
Jeez, Jason you’re easily disappointed.
How quickly the “genuine” fans turn !
Slot was right to drop Salah he’s beed carried for months and under performing his reaction tells a story by spitting his dummy out he thinks he has a god given right to automatically be first choice and picked to play come what may well done Slot. No one has the god given right to be picked all the players play for a the team Salah showed last night he is not a team player by shooting when the pass was the better option for scoring.
Give the guy a break. Did you not see the appeal by his wife? You probably don’t care anyway