FeatureMohamed Salah's 250 LFC goals: Six writers select their favourites

There have now been a remarkable 250 strikes from the Egyptian since he first pulled that historic red jersey onto his shoulders back in 2017.

A Liverpoolfc.com writer has been present to bear witness to every Salah finish that has found the net for the club, carrying him to a staggering tally only two men have ever reached before him.

To celebrate Salah’s latest landmark, here we have picked out our own favourites from the collection…

v Manchester United, 2019-20 Premier League

By James Carroll

It’s gone down in folklore as the day we started to believe.

The day the 30-year wait to bring the league title back to Anfield began to finally look like it was coming to an end.

The Kop even roared as much.

And with good reason; it was a result that opened up a 16-point lead at the top of the Premier League table in mid-January.

Nevertheless, it was tense. You could feel it in the cold winter air. Our old rivals were pushing for an equaliser to sour the party in L4 after Virgil van Dijk’s first-half opener had put Liverpool ahead.

But then he pounced, as he so often has and does.

He’d never scored against Manchester United before in four previous attempts. But if we’ve learned anything over the last eight-plus years, it’s to never write Salah off.

First, there’s relief as a United corner comes to nothing and Alisson Becker claims the ball. Even some of his teammates tell him to hold it, slow the game down, but he sees the opportunity.

Then, there’s hope. The ’keeper’s kick finds Salah in space on halfway. He needs to bring the bounce under control, which allows Dan James to make up some ground in attempts to foil him.

Next comes expectation. The Egyptian King’s speed and strength holds off the attentions of his opponent and takes him into the area.

And finally, there’s bedlam. The ball is rolled under David de Gea, Anfield erupts, Salah whips his shirt off and Alisson sprints the length of the pitch and knee-slides into the celebrations in front of the Kop.

“We’re gonna win the league…” reverberates around the stadium. Emphatically. Loudly.

The dream would soon become reality and not only that, it was the first of Salah’s now 16 goals against United.

A statement goal, a statement win. And now you’re gonna believe us.

v Chelsea, 2018-19 Premier League

By Glenn Price

As someone involved in the installation of the seismometer for last season’s title-clincher, I’ve often wondered what other occasions I’d have liked to have the earth-movement measurer in place for.

This goal of Salah’s probably tops that list. I’ve never heard Anfield like that before and since.

The thunderbolt seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere and just 142 seconds after Sadio Mane’s opener in a must-win game for Jürgen Klopp’s trophy-chasing side. A proper ‘wow’ moment.

For all of his many, many, many talents, the Egyptian isn’t really known for Steven Gerrard-like rockets. He proved he can do that here, though. The ball is past Kepa Arrizabalaga before he’s at full stretch.

I remember Salah saying post-match that he just let his instincts take over after being picked out by the switch from Van Dijk and that it still wasn’t his best goal at that point! The Puskas Award winner versus Everton took that mantle.

I thought I had the best view in the house from where the press box is located in the Main Stand. But then you see the footage one of the club’s camera operators captured – from near the tunnel and directly behind the strike – and your appreciation for it grows. The reactions to it are brilliant, too (John Achterberg was all of us).

And making this goal even more iconic is the yoga-pose celebration. We bow to you, Mo. Namaste.

v Manchester City, 2021-22 Premier League

By Sam Williams

Being rendered lost for words is not helpful when you write for a living.

But on this occasion, I was off the clock and attending Anfield as a supporter. So, standing there, open-mouthed with my hands on my head after witnessing that, was fine. In fact, it was the natural reaction to a goal that defied description.

Those Klopp’s Liverpool v Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City tussles were games not to be missed: the quality and tempo were unparalleled and, live, it felt like you were watching elite-level football on fast-forward.

This edition, in October 2021, was no different. It finished 2-2 between the sides that would both, for the second time in four seasons, break the 90-point barrier and be separated by a single point at the end of an epic title race.

Four years on, how Salah did what he did to put his team 2-1 up still doesn’t make sense.

With his back to goal, he collects Curtis Jones’ pass, rolls Joao Cancelo, deceives Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, turns Aymeric Laporte and then cracks an unstoppable right-footed drive across Ederson and into the corner. All in the space of about six seconds.

I was on row three at the point where the Sir Kenny Dalglish and Anfield Road stands meet. Or, to put it another way, I had the fortune of witnessing this moment of genius up close and from pitchside.

Given the context – being scored in a match of such importance against opposition of the highest class – this is, in my opinion, Salah’s best goal for Liverpool. It is undoubtedly my favourite.

v Tottenham Hotspur, 2018-19 Champions League

By Steve Hunter

My pick won’t ever be considered Salah’s best Liverpool goal, but the context might just make it the most important.

It’s the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur on a hot evening in Madrid and an opportunity for redemption, for the Egyptian personally and the Reds collectively, in Europe’s premier club competition.

In the same fixture a little more than a year earlier, he had left the pitch in tears during the first half, forced off due to a dislocated shoulder following a challenge from Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos.

This time, though, the tears would be of joy.

After a wonderful afternoon of build-up in Spain’s capital, soundtracked by Jamie Webster and Cast frontman John Power, supporters sang their hearts out and believed this could be our moment.

And when the action began inside Estadio Metropolitano, Salah’s chance arrived within two minutes.

A handball from a Mane cross earned Liverpool a penalty. A short delay – and even a late change of mind about where to aim – couldn’t disrupt Salah’s nerves of steel as he thrashed the spot-kick past Hugo Lloris.

Advantage Liverpool, on a night when the small margins would make the biggest difference.

There was nobody else you wanted to take that penalty more than Salah, and the Reds were in control and heading for European Cup No.6.

Divock Origi joined him in the history books by sealing the victory with a late goal, lighting the spark for this Liverpool team to push on and win the lot in the years that followed.

It was so fitting that Salah had set them on their way.

v Manchester City, 2017-18 Champions League

By Chris Shaw

It’s not the done thing to celebrate or show allegiances when reporting from press boxes. And so, over the years, many of my reactions to Liverpool scoring brilliant or crucial goals have been restricted to hearty fist-pumps underneath the table. Usually to the detriment of the legs of the colleague sitting next to me.

And perhaps rarely more so than the evening of April 10, 2018 inside Etihad Stadium.

Holding a 3-0 advantage over Manchester City from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Anfield, the Reds had been on the ropes throughout a claustrophobic opening 45 minutes in which they had somehow managed to limit Guardiola’s men to a single strike back.

More of the same was incoming in the second half, it seemed.

But the pressure would soon be lifted with two glorious touches of Salah’s left foot.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s prodded through pass to Salah was moved on to send Mane scampering in behind and though the Senegalese was snuffed out by goalkeeper Ederson, the ball fell loose inside the box.

And there was Salah. Alive, as always, to possibilities.

One calm touch took a sprawling Ederson out of the equation and crafted a shooting angle. As defenders flailed to recover, Salah opted not to thrash at his finish, not to rush this sudden chance. He simply dinked the ball perfectly into the exposed net.

His body’s momentum took him to the foot of a strip of Liverpool fans housed behind the goal, with player and away crowd now united in the sureness that their team would be marching through to the semi-finals.

Pure skill. Pure class. Pure passion.

And my fist was in overdrive under the desk.

v AFC Bournemouth, 2024-25 Premier League

By Joe Urquhart

As the most recent member among the contributors here, arriving in 2022, it feels as impressive as it is ridiculous that I still have so many options to choose from.

Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium is one of the more intimate Premier League grounds, offering an up-close view of the action like not many other places in the division.

The press box is about halfway up the stand on the tunnel side, opposite the travelling supporters, and provided the perfect view behind a goal that left a serious imprint.

During this job, you often gain a feeling for when you can switch in and out of writing your match report, depending how the game ebbs and flows.

With 15 minutes to go on this trip to the south coast with the Reds, the ball makes its way to Luis Diaz on the left. Probably time for me to glance up…

His pass finds Jones, who composes himself and flings the ball to the feet of Salah. Certainly one to keep an eye on...

As the No.11 takes his first touch on the right side of the area, it appears the counter has slowed somewhat. Maybe I can look back at my screen...

More fool me to doubt him. Three more touches and the ball is in the far corner of the net from an impossible angle. Those of us lucky enough to be sat directly behind the effort are left in awe with their jaws to the floor.

There’s a ripple of applause, I’m in a daze and a radio commentator somewhere nearby is shouting at the top of his lungs.

The ball left Salah’s boot, curving on a perfect arc round the defence, starting well outside the post, before finishing inside the goalframe with the ’keeper unmoved.

The skill, sublime. The goal, ridiculous. The hush... and then roar, magnificent.