ANFIELD — It would be one hell of a parting gift. Something else to remember him by. The Egyptian King’s Midas Touch knowing no bounds.
Mohamed Salah certainly acted like this was goodbye. A full lap of appreciation, intermittent waves to his adoring masses in full supporting voice of their unforgettable hero.
If those Saudi Arabian advances, where he could become the most powerful sporting figure in the Arab world, do finally prove impossible to turn down, this would be the way to go.
With the crowd singing your name. Legacy still untarnished, having had the chance to get back on the pitch and say a proper goodbye.
And your actions having, inadvertently, restored long-absent vigour among your teammates as they slumped from one nadir to the next.
Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah applauds the fans following the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on December 13, 2025. Liverpool won the match 2-0. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. /
Salah appeared to do a lap of honour (Photo: AFP)
Something needed to be done to arrest an alarming run of Liverpool defeats and capitulations. Something wasn’t right. The team with the worst defence to their Premier League title since Leicester City looked fragile, their impenetrable aura, especially at Anfield, smashed into a thousand pieces.
The motives for Salah’s extraordinary outburst at Elland Road are unclear. It’s what he has unintentionally done that could end up mattering most. Everyone, from supporters in the Kop, to the players and Arne Slot himself has had a jolt into life in the aftermath of last week’s audience with Mo.
Supporters have rallied around their besieged manager, while simultaneously sticking by the club’s all-time Premier League top goalscorer, taking the Swiss approach and remaining neutral. There’s a united front, even if the melodramas’ chief protagonists can’t quite bare to look each other in the eye yet.
The players have come together, in the team’s hour of need. Victories over Inter Milan and now Brighton came about in very different ways, but both as a result of greater energy, running and overarching gusto conspicuous by its absence in their recent wretched run.
Slot himself admitted this week he has not enjoyed the past seven days of undulating scrutiny. Yet he too has come out fighting.
The Dutchman’s programme notes were pointed. Littered with buzzwords and phrases. The players “stood together”, “rose to the occasion” in Milan, “took responsibility” and “displayed a collective mentality”.
Given some reconciliation has been found, Salah was back in the squad, even if it was his more recent familiar home on the bench for the visit of a tricky Brighton.
Slot even made a rare appearance on the touchline to observe the warm-up, perhaps to make sure Salah wasn’t trying to organise any form of putsch.
On the bench for the fourth successive match, the Premier League’s most famous exile was deep in a heated conversation with Andrew Robertson as the team finished their warm-ups, one which continued on the bench as the match got underway. Hugo Ekitike’s opener inside a minute – Liverpool’s fastest league goal in six years – acted as a reminder there was a game taking place.
Another injury to Joe Gomez 25 minutes in forced Slot into an early change where, with little other option, he turned to Salah.
Slot did not so much as even look in his direction as the rogue forward stood on the touchline waiting to be introduced, but the Egyptian got a raucous reception from the home fans when he came on.
Looking very much an aging stalwart short of match practice, Salah still posed Brighton a threat, with his assist from a corner for Ekitike’s game-clinching second taking him into the outright lead for the player with the most goal contributions for one club in Premier League history.
Brighton had the chances to cause Slot more woe but wasted them when they came. Salah was another guilty of profligacy, blazing over his big moment late on.
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His regenerative impact on the side, however, came the previous Saturday. Liverpool still looked vulnerable, but there was a spring in their step, a united front that only comes about after something, or someone, of the grandest gravitas challenges you.
“No, no, no, not twice in a week,” Salah said as he hurried past reporters hoping for a sequel to last week’s epic rant. Yet, even this was pre-planned – the rest of the players went out a different exit. Had Salah really wanted to avoid the media glare, he would have done the same. Some just feel most at home in the spotlight.
Slot insisted after the match there is no issue with Salah to resolve. That is of course not true. The conflict has, however, produced some, potentially season-saving benefits.