Mo Salah should be heading into his final Liverpool game with nothing but love, gratitude and celebration around him, but his recent social media statement has made the mood far more complicated.
The Egyptian has been one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen at Anfield, yet his farewell against Brentford now comes with a layer of tension after another apparent dig at Arne Slot.
Writing for BBC Sport, Pat Nevin compared Salah’s departure to Casemiro’s Manchester United exit and suggested the timing has changed how our No.11’s goodbye may feel.
He wrote: “Mohamed Salah is another truly world-class player but it might feel slightly different when he makes his final bow at Anfield against Brentford.”
Nevin then added: “The simmering bad feeling between him and Arne Slot became brutally clear in a very unsubtle social media post from the Egyptian.”
That post saw Salah call for Liverpool to return to being a “heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear”, while also insisting that Champions League qualification is the “bare minimum”.
Plenty of us will agree with the sentiment, because this season has been a long way short of the standards Liverpool should demand, but the timing has clearly caused a debate that nobody wanted before his final appearance.
Nevin also wrote: “Mo will be rightly saluted by the Kop and many a tear will be shed for the departing legend but alongside the sweet memories, somewhere in there is a little bitterness too.”
That line probably captures the strange feeling around Salah better than anything else.
We’re talking about a player with 257 goals, 119 assists and a trophy collection that includes two Premier League titles and a Champions League, so nothing should erase what the 33-year-old has done for us.
At the same time, Rooney has already accused Salah of aiming “another dig at Slot” and even claimed the winger should be kept away from the stadium for the Brentford match.
That would be too far, because Liverpool still need a result and Salah still deserves his goodbye.
But what should have been simple has become messy, and that’s a sad final twist for one of Anfield’s modern greats.
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