Mohamed Salah's previous demonstration of being a team player nearly made Jurgen Klopp cry in a touching moment. During Liverpool's 5-1 rout of Arsenal in December 2018, the Reds were gifted a second penalty after the Egyptian initially scored the first.
While many expected Salah to take the spot-kick for a potential brace, the winger instead opted to gift the opportunity to Roberto Firmino who was on a hat-trick. The Brazilian netted the penalty in what was his first treble for the club.
Salah - who announced earlier this week he's set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season - stunned the Anfield faithful with his kind gesture that almost left Klopp in a flood of tears. The German told BBC Sport after full-time: "We knew in the second half that the game wasn't finished, so we wanted to control it.
"Mo Salah gave the penalty to Bobby [Firmino] and I almost cried because we all know how much Mo wants to score goals. It was really nice. Christmas is over but not between the boys!"
The generosity showed by the Reds icon preceded calls of selfishness aimed at him by the likes of Gary Neville and Arsene Wenger two years later. It was after Liverpool's opening-day 4-1 win over Leeds in September 2020 - which marked Salah netting his third Premier League hat-trick of his career - was overshadowed by Neville spelling the mentality difference between the Egyptian and Sadio Mane.
Neville claimed the Egyptian is more likely to be his less liked by his team-mates because of his tendency to go for goal instead of passing at certain times - a key difference to Mane's game he said.
Roberto Firmino earned a hat-trick against Arsenal thanks to Mohamed Salah's generosity
Neville said: "You think of the mentality difference between Mane and Salah. Mane is likeable, I think the players probably love him, he gives his all every single day, he'll do the selfless thing for the team.
"Then you look at Salah over on the other side. He doesn't pass sometimes to his team-mate, he'll be a little bit more selfish, a little bit less likeable because of that, probably by the fans, probably by some of his team-mates. But then I look at him as sort of an outsider as somebody looking at him thinking, 'He is an absolute killer on the pitch'."
Wenger had already echoed the "selfish" sentiments surrounding Salah a year prior as the former Arsenal boss told beIN Sports: "He [Salah] has similarities with Messi. He must find the consistency of Messi. I find he's a good finisher but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well.
"Salah is a bit obsessed with finishing himself. That's a dimension he'll get certainly, when he grows a little bit older, to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish. But I like him very much, he has huge potential. Mane as well."
In his ninth and final season in Merseyside, Salah will be given one of the greatest farewells in the history of the club as the opportunity to claim his last pieces of silverware for the club remain. The Reds take on Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of the Champions League next month.
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