Mohamed Salah makes Premier League history on Liverpool return

LIVERPOOL, England — Mohamed Salah ended a thorny week by coming off the bench for Liverpool in their win over Brighton, during which he made Premier League history with an assist.

Salah, who gave an explosive interview last week in which he claimed he had been scapegoated by the club amid their poor form, replaced the injured Joe Gomez, getting a big applause from the Anfield crowd for his early introduction.

The Egypt international made his impact known in the second half with a well-delivered corner that Hugo Ekitike nodded home to make the score 2-0.

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It meant Salah moved ahead of Wayne Rooney to become the Premier League’s all-time leader in combined goals and assists for a single club with 277.

Salah had a chance to add a goal of his own in stoppage time when Federico Chiesa slid the ball to him across the box, but his first-time shot soared over the bar.

Salah had been recalled to the matchday squad after being left out of Tuesday’s Champions League win over Inter Milan.

The move came after Salah gave a rare interview to journalists after the draw to Leeds United when he was dropped to the bench for a third straight game. His most explosive comment was when he said he felt like he had been “thrown under a bus” by the club.

“The reason he wasn’t in Milan was his interview and everybody has a different opinion — should he be one, two, three, four months four years [out of the squad],” Liverpool manager Arne Slot told a news conference. “Every manager makes different decisions on that, but he wasn’t involved against Milan.

“I spoke to him yesterday. I never say anything about what we talk about, and I am not going to make an exception now, but actions speak louder than what has been said. He was back in the squad and when I had to make my first substitution I brought him in, and he performed as every fan, including me, would like him to.”

This was Salah’s final game for Liverpool before heading to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Salah had suggested last weekend that the Brighton clash could be his last for Liverpool and following the full-time whistle on Saturday he did a lap of the pitch and applauded fans. But Slot downplayed the idea that the forward’s actions were a goodbye.

“He wasn’t the only player who walked around the pitch,” Slot said. “The fans deserved a thank you from us. Our players worked incredibly hard today to keep a clean sheet.

“Mo is going to go to AFCON now. We hope he is going to do very well, and in the meantime we have to do without him with not that many players available at the moment.”

Asked whether he would like Salah to return in January, Slot added: “Yeah. I think he is a Liverpool player, and I like to use him when we need him. Today he didn’t start as he did a few times before now, but in the one-and-a-half seasons before he started almost every game. Today when he came in he had the performance like you would want him to.

“He was close to another assist, he was close to scoring when Fede assisted him. He was a threat. That’s very important because when you play with attackers, you hope he is a threat to the other team.

“For me there is no issue to resolve. He is now the same as any other player. You talk to your players if you are happy or unhappy, but for me there is nothing for me to talk about after what happened against Leeds.”

Premier League combined goals/assists for single club

1. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool – 277
2. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United – 276
3. Ryan Giggs, Manchester United – 271
4. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur – 259
5. Thierry Henry, Arsenal – 249
6. Frank Lampard, Chelsea – 237
7. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City – 231
8. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool – 212
9. Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur – 198
10. Jamie Vardy, Leicester City – 193