Less than a month ago, Liverpool looked set to miss out on Champions League football for the first time under Jurgen Klopp, but now the opportunity is becoming clearer with just three rounds of Premier League action remaining. The credit goes to striker Mohamed Salah.
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| Striker Mohamed Salah has pulled Liverpool back into the race for a place in next season's Champions League. Photo: Getty Images |
Liverpool lost 1-4 away to Manchester City on the first day of April. At that time, “The Kop” was 7 points behind the top four, and two more draws with Chelsea and Arsenal made fans even more certain that Liverpool would not qualify for the Champions League for the first time under coach Jurgen Klopp.
The change came from the match against Leeds United in mid-April. Liverpool won 6-1 as a boost to the team to stand up strongest this season. The German coach's players won 6 consecutive matches. So after 35 rounds, Liverpool is only one draw away from the top 4. Mr. Klopp still does not believe in the opportunity to earn a place in the Champions League next season, but admits that the series of consecutive wins has helped Liverpool have an "interesting period" at the end of the season. Liverpool's advantage is that in the last 3 matches, there are 2 teams in the relegation race, Leicester City and Southampton; only Aston Villa is a concern when they are in 8th place on the rankings.
Klopp admitted that Mohamed Salah was Liverpool's standout player at the end of the season. The Egyptian striker became the first player in Liverpool's 131-year history to score in nine consecutive home games at Anfield. The 30-year-old has equaled the legendary Steven Gerrard's tally of 186 goals. Salah has contributed at least 25 goals/season during his six seasons with Liverpool. The former Chelsea player has played the most Premier League matches for Liverpool since 2017, with an efficiency of 97% of his appearances.
In the 16 Premier League matches that Salah has scored this season, there have been only 2 draws and 3 losses. This gives Liverpool fans hope that if Salah maintains his current good scoring form, the possibility of the home team getting a place in the Champions League is quite high. Salah is only ranked 5th in the list of the best strikers in Liverpool's history, but he has the highest scoring efficiency, with 133 minutes/goal; while the person above him, Billy Liddell, needs 211 minutes to score 1 goal.
Liverpool are planning to have a bustling transfer window in the upcoming summer. The first sign is that "The Kop" said goodbye to the current information director, Julian Ward, to invite the former information director of Wolfsburg, Jorg Schmadtke, to replace him. The relationship between coach Klopp and Schmadtke was very good when both were working in Germany, both were considered to coordinate smoothly in the effort to rebuild Liverpool. The attacking trio that helped Liverpool win the 2018-2019 Champions League as well as the first Premier League title after a full 3-decade wait in 2019-2020, Salah - Sadio Mane - Firmino, only the Egyptian striker is left at Anfield.
Mane moved to Bayern Munich last summer. On May 20, Firmino will play his last home match to say goodbye to Liverpool fans. Coach Klopp affirmed that his top priority is to keep Salah despite the interest of European giants such as Barcelona, Real Madrid or PSG because he believes that Salah will not only help Liverpool stand up at the end of this season but will also be an important pillar in the Premier League championship campaign next season.
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