The roll call of Liverpool’s greatest goalscorers reads like a who’s who of some of the most deadly marksmen to ever grace the game.
The Premier League era has seen Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler excel. Before then were Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan and Roger Hunt, earlier still Gordon Hodgson. And there, standing head and shoulders above the rest, is the club’s leading scorer Ian Rush.
None, though, were able to match what Mohamed Salah has now achieved during an already legendary Anfield career.
By tucking confidently home after being fed by Bobby Clark, the Egyptian here became the first Liverpool player in history to score 20 goals in all competitions in seven successive seasons.
If the finish, left-footed into the bottom corner with only Sparta Prague goalkeeper Peter Vindahl to beat, was trademark Salah, so too was this performance, the 31-year-old simply several levels above his opponents as Liverpool romped into the Europa League quarter-finals by winning 6-1 on the night and 11-2 on aggregate.
Of course, Salah’s scoring prowess is made all the more remarkable given he has spent almost all of his time playing on the right wing and not as a centre forward.
But what truly sets him apart from almost all that have gone before him at Liverpool was also on display in front of an appreciative Anfield, Salah chief creator as well as converter by laying on goals for Clark, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai.
In 336 appearances for the Reds, Salah has 206 goals and 86 assists at a rate of almost one goal involvement every 90 minutes. No Liverpool player in history comes close.
