“Salah is finished.”
“He doesn’t have it anymore.”
“It’s time for Liverpool to move on.”
Those were the kind of opinions we heard when Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool future was being debated.
Well, watching him tonight might make those words feel very painful indeed.
Salah has just produced an outrageous performance for Trabzonspor, scoring a hat-trick and providing an assist as his new club demolished Galatasaray 4-0 in the Turkish Super Lig.
In other words, he directly contributed to every single goal.
And for Liverpool supporters watching on, it was difficult not to think about what we’ve lost.
Salah was simply sensational
The Egyptian opened the scoring after just four minutes, racing through before calmly finishing.
He then turned provider in the 39th minute, setting up Noah Saviolo for Trabzonspor’s second.
Five minutes later, Salah was on the scoresheet again.
And with 10 minutes remaining, he completed his hat-trick.
Three goals. One assist. Four goal contributions.
Against Galatasaray.
That’s not a player who looks finished.
That’s Mohamed Salah reminding everyone that the footballer is still very much there.
And that’s what makes this so painful
Liverpool supporters knew exactly what Salah was capable of.
We watched him do this for years.
We watched him score ridiculous goals.
We watched him produce when Liverpool needed him most.
We watched him break records, win trophies and become one of the greatest players ever to wear the famous red shirt.
And now we’re watching him do it somewhere else.
That’s the difficult part.
Because when a Liverpool legend leaves, you naturally want to believe the timing was right.
You want to believe that the club made the correct decision.
You want to believe that the player has reached the end of his time at Anfield.
But then Salah goes and produces three goals and an assist in a huge game, and suddenly those emotions come flooding back.
Was the idea that he was finished completely wrong?
Of course, nobody can predict how a player will age.
Salah is now 34, and Liverpool had to make a decision about the future.
But saying he was finished was always a different argument.
And performances like this make that argument look incredibly foolish.
Salah has now scored seven goals in his first six league appearances for Trabzonspor, according to Anadolu Agency.
He’s not simply hanging around at a new club.
He’s making a difference.
He’s scoring goals.
He’s creating goals.
He’s still deciding football matches.
And tonight, he completely destroyed Galatasaray.
Liverpool fans will miss him more than they realise
Perhaps that’s the biggest thing this performance has reminded us of.
We miss Mo Salah.
We miss that left foot.
We miss the movement.
We miss the celebrations.
We miss the feeling that if Liverpool needed something special, Salah could produce it.
Liverpool have moved into a new era under Andoni Iraola.
There are exciting new players.
There is a different style of football.
There is a new project being built.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t look back and appreciate what Salah gave us.
And watching him score a hat-trick tonight makes the loss feel that little bit more real.
A Liverpool legend is still doing Liverpool things
Salah didn’t just score three goals.
He contributed to all four.
He opened the scoring.
He created the second.
He scored the third.
Then he completed his hat-trick with the fourth.
That’s vintage Mo Salah.
And maybe that’s why it hurts.
Because somewhere inside every Liverpool supporter who watched him tonight is the same thought:
“We could really do with him right now.”
The club has to move forward.
Salah has moved forward.
But that doesn’t mean we have to stop missing him.
Six years of memories don’t disappear because a player changes clubs.
And if Salah continues producing performances like this, Liverpool supporters are going to be reminded of just how special he was — and still is.
The King is still scoring.
And honestly?
It hurts seeing him do it in somebody else’s shirt.
Thank you for everything, Mo.
You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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