Liverpool faced Brighton on Monday night in their penultimate match of the Premier League season.
Having seen their team spend part of the week on the beaches of Dubai, it was not necessarily a match in which Reds supporters held out much hope of a good performance.
Nevertheless, Liverpool turned up and put on a decent show at the Amex Stadium.
Before the action got underway, though, all eyes were on the team Arne Slot would pick. Having gone strong against Arsenal last weekend, it felt likely to be a rotational team this time.
That’s exactly what happened, with the major surprise being that Virgil van Dijk was left on the bench for the first time in the Premier League this season.
Without Van Dijk in the back line and with Trent Alexander-Arnold starting as a substitute as well, Liverpool needed a new captain for the evening.
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Mohamed Salah captains Liverpool
This is a hot topic at Liverpool, because, with Alexander-Arnold leaving, the Reds are going to need a new second in command to Van Dijk next season.
There are certainly plenty of contenders, with senior players like Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker and Andy Robertson all surely in the mix.
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With Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Conor Bradley also captains of their respective national teams, Slot had plenty to choose from.
In the end, however, the Liverpool head coach plumped for perhaps the most popular pick of all: Salah.
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Having turned in one of the great individual Premier League campaigns, Salah finally wore the armband in the league for the first time all season.
With Brighton lining up for a guard of honour, the Egyptian rightly got his moment to take in the plaudits.
Will Salah become permanent vice-captain?
There is an argument that Alexander-Arnold should never have been selected as vice-captain by Jurgen Klopp in 2023.
The Scouser is not a visible leader by any means, and with the Liverpool squad containing plenty more natural candidates, it was arguably a mistake from Klopp.
Either way, what is clear is that Liverpool will be moving on from Alexander-Arnold this summer.
And when they do, Slot’s selection of Salah to wear the armband in this one would suggest he will be the man to get the nod.
You won’t find too many supporters arguing if that is the way it plays out.