Why Salah was Klopp’s greatest general on the field

Juergen Klopp, right, celebrates with Mohamed Salah after his last match as Liverpool manager against the Wolverhampton Wanderers and his team won 2-0 on May 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 May 2024
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Why Salah was Klopp’s greatest general on the field

  • No player contributed to the legendary German coach’s success at Liverpool more than the talismanic Egyptian

LIVERPOOL: When Napoleon Bonaparte was briefed on the virtues of a new general, he would apparently retort with “but is he lucky?”

Expertise was one thing, but the French emperor also understood the importance of happenstance.

In his nine years at Liverpool, which came to an emotional end on Sunday at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp has been blessed with many lucky generals.

The German’s reign is bookmarked, time and again, by getting the right man at the right time, and all played their part in a historic era for the club.

In the summer of 2016, Klopp’s debut at Anfield, Sadio Mane became the first of his new generals. Not far behind was Gini Wijnaldum and Andrew Robertson. All would go on to become pillars of his great Liverpool team.

Virgil van Dijk, in the winter of 2018, transformed Liverpool’s previously porous defense into one of the best in Europe, and even the world.

The Brazilian duo of Alisson Becker and Fabinho, in the summer of 2018, became the final pieces of the jigsaw. Klopp’s iconic team was complete.

But the greatest general of them all had arrived a year earlier. It is often forgotten now, considering what has transpired since, that when Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in the summer of 2017, he was not considered by many pundits to be a “world class” player, whatever that means.

But from the moment he walked into Anfield, his fortunes and Klopp’s would become inextricably entwined.

At full time on Sunday following Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves, as Klopp gave Salah one of his trademark hugs, both must have realized how lucky they were to have found each other seven years earlier.

Salah, it is no exaggeration to say, was more instrumental in bringing success to Liverpool than any other player during Klopp’s time at Anfield.

And those who know best, knew that too.

Three players have been accorded the honorary title of “King” by the Kop: Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and the boy from Nagrig.

Thousands of words have been written in recent weeks about Klopp’s reign, and since it would take a book to cover the records that Salah breaks, seemingly on a weekly basis, there is little point in reproducing the facts and figures of their time together.

Viscerally, it was all about the moments, many that flirted with footballing utopia, and a few that touched the depths of despair.

Salah scored on his debut in a 3-3 Premier League draw at Watford in the summer of 2017, and has not stopped since.

The “Egyptian King” quickly established a stunning forward partnership with Mane and Roberto Firmino — the “front three,” as they would become known.

There was the breathtaking “Road Runner” goal against Arsenal on Salah’s second Anfield start; the FIFA Puskas Award-winning curler against Everton in a December snowstorm; and an even better version of it against Tottenham in February.

In particular, Salah would develop a taste for torturing the preeminent team of the age, Pep Guardiola’s magnificent Manchester City.

In his first season alone, there was a memorable chipped goal in an era-launching 4-3 Premier League win at Anfield, and a tie-settling second at the Etihad as Liverpool beat City 2-1 (5-1 on aggregate) in the Champions League quarterfinals. He had scored in the first leg too.

One performance, however, continues to stand above all others.

On April 24, 2018, Salah delivered arguably his finest match for Liverpool in a 5-2 win against Roma at Anfield in the Champions League semifinal first leg.

Against future colleague Alisson in the opposition goal, Salah scored twice, assisted twice, and for 90 minutes tore the Italian team to shreds. He was simply unplayable. It was a display that Lionel Messi would have struggled to better.

The Champions League final a few weeks later would bring the lowest of Salah’s time at Liverpool as a shoulder injury saw him leave the pitch in tears after only 31 minutes. Without their talisman, Liverpool lost 3-1.

At the time, Klopp was turning a player that had a remarkable availability record — lucky one could say — and work ethic into one of the world’s best players, technically and tactically. Salah’s pressing of the opposition and positional sense when out of possession perfectly suited Klopp’s demands and complemented the forward’s unquenchable thirst for goals.

Salah’s second season saw player and team hit new highs as they accumulated a mind-boggling 97 points in the Premier League and, incredibly, still fell one short of Manchester City.

Salah still scored one of the great Anfield goals against Chelsea in a 2-0 win as they chased down the relentless leaders.

Even on the very rare occasion he missed a match, the world watched his every move. As Liverpool, almost incredulously, overturned a three-goal deficit against Barcelona to reach the 2019 Champions League final, the injured Salah sat on the bench in a T-shirt that said: “Never Give Up.” Sales skyrocketed.

A Champions League triumph in Madrid would prove more than a consolation for the Reds, Salah scoring the opener in a 2-0 win over Tottenham to give Liverpool their sixth title, a record for an English team, naturally.

Klopp had broken his duck at Liverpool and finally become a European champion after near misses with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool in the previous six years.

Salah, meanwhile, was rewriting the record books with his goals, and the 2019/2020 season finally brought the Premier League that Liverpool fans craved.

A traumatized fan base had previously refused to sing about the elusive league title until one January evening at Anfield when Salah scored a goosebump-inducing stoppage time goal to seal a 2-0 over Manchester United at Anfield.

“We’re gonna win the league,” Anfield bellowed in celebration. After 30 years of disappointments and false dawns, they finally believed, and the Premier League would be secured in record time, though three matches after resumption of play following the COVID-19 lockdown.

The four years since have not brought a league or Champions League title, but other trophies (two League Cups and an FA Cup) followed, seemingly always at the expense of Chelsea.

On the pitch, as Klopp’s great team splintered, no one maintained their level of consistency and brilliance quite like Salah.

Goals of all types continued to flow including one solo effort, against Manchester City at Anfield, prompting many to call Salah the best player in the world during the 2021/2022 season.

While others suffered long-term injuries, lost form or left the club (especially Mane and Firmino), Salah remained as reliable as ever — always available, always scoring, always creating.

That he is a Liverpool all-time great is no longer up for debate.

This is why, when he had an uncharacteristic and public argument with Klopp on the touchline at West Ham recently, few fans took sides. The coach may be untouchable, but Salah had earned the right to be right up there with him. And that is the greatest compliment of all, for both men.

Ultimately, it all ended in hugs, smiles and a few tears on Sunday.

Klopp and Salah were lucky to have each other. And we were lucky to have them.


Barca edge Real Madrid in thriller to move to brink of Liga title

Updated 12 May 2025
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Barca edge Real Madrid in thriller to move to brink of Liga title

  • Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth Clasico victory from four meetings this season, showing their dominance over Carlo Ancelotti’s side

BARCELONA: Barcelona mounted a spectacular comeback to beat Real Madrid 4-3 in La Liga on Sunday and move to the brink of the title after overcoming a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe.

The France striker threatened to haul Madrid back into the title race but Raphinha’s double and goals from Lamine Yamal and Eric Garcia gave Barcelona a seven-point lead on the reigning champions with three matches remaining.

Hansi Flick’s side were knocked out of the Champions League in the semifinals by Inter Milan on Tuesday and risked their season collapsing if they were beaten by Madrid, but they resisted after Mbappe’s early brace.

Barcelona battled back to claim a fourth Clasico victory from four meetings this season, showing their dominance over Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

“We’ve opened up an important gap, it was key to win this game after the Champions League (defeat), the fans have forgotten it and so have we, let’s enjoy this,” Yamal told Movistar.

“It was important to win today to bring the league title closer and it went very well, we’re very happy.”

Real Madrid are set to finish the season without a major trophy.

“We have to defend better, that is quite evident from today’s game, we defended badly and that’s that,” said Ancelotti.

“Mbappe did well... in an attacking sense the team had clear ideas, but we could have defended better.”

Madrid had made the perfect start to what is expected to be the Italian coach’s final Clasico at the helm.

Mbappe earned a penalty when he was scythed down by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, although the Catalans complained in vain the forward was offside in the build-up.

The striker beat Szczesny, who dived the right way and got his fingers to it, but could not keep it out.

In the 14th minute Mbappe doubled Madrid’s advantage with a lethal finish after Vinicius Junior played him through, with Barcelona complaining again about a perceived foul on Yamal earlier in the move.

It was his 26th La Liga strike, taking him past Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski on 25 at the top of the scoring charts, and his 38th of the season across all competitions, beating Ivan Zamorano’s club record of 37 in a first season with Los Blancos.

Just as they have done on so many occasions this season, Flick’s spirited young Barcelona fought their way back in front with a stirring comeback.

Garcia headed home Ferran Torres’ flick-on from a corner to spark it.

Then Madrid could not stop 17-year-old star Yamal from levelling with a cultured bending effort beyond Courtois after Torres laid the ball off to him.

Two minutes later, Raphinha drilled Barca ahead, with Pedri threading him through.

Mbappe thought he had won another penalty when he fell under pressure from Frenkie de Jong but VAR revealed an offside in the build-up.

Moments later, Raphinha netted his second, picking Lucas Vazquez’s pocket on the edge of the area, exchanging passes with Torres and beating Courtois.

Mbappe netted from an offside position before the break, bringing a rollercoaster first half to a close.

Yamal had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half as Barcelona looked to put their arch-rivals to the sword.

However Vinicius got behind Barca’s high line and he fed Mbappe for his hat-trick.

Barcelona appealed for a penalty when Aurelien Tchouameni blocked Torres’ shot with his arm, but the referee did not give it despite being called to review it by VAR.

Real Madrid substitute Victor Munoz fired high and wide when sent through, and Szczesny denied Mbappe, who had another strike ruled out for offside.

“For me it’s not always fun, sometimes I really suffer a lot,” admitted Flick, who said his team made too many mistakes in defense.

Barcelona thought they had wrapped up their win with a superb Fermin Lopez solo effort but it was harshly disallowed for handball.

Madrid had no time left to fight back though, and Barcelona, who last won the league in 2023, could seal the title as early as Wednesday, should Los Blancos stumble against Mallorca.

If Madrid avoid defeat Barcelona will be champions with a win at Espanyol the next day.

“We’ll seal it on Thursday and that’s all,” said Torres.


Newcastle go third with 2-0 win over 10-man Chelsea

Updated 11 May 2025
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Newcastle go third with 2-0 win over 10-man Chelsea

  • The win leaves Newcastle in third spot on 66 points, three ahead of Chelsea

NEWCASTLE: An early goal from Sandro Tonali and a late Bruno Guimaraes effort gave Newcastle United a 2-0 home win over Chelsea on Sunday that moves the Magpies a step closer to Champions League football next season, with Blues striker Nicholas Jackson denting his side’s hopes by being sent off in the first half.

The win leaves Newcastle in third spot on 66 points, three ahead of Chelsea, who hold the fifth and final Champions League spot with two games to play.

Aston Villa are level with Chelsea on points, with Nottingham Forest, who face already-relegated Leicester City later on Sunday, two points further back.

Newcastle were good value for their win but it was Jackson’s moment of madness that decided the game, robbing Chelsea of their best goal-scoring option in a game the Conference League finalists could not afford to lose if they wanted to be at Europe’s top table next season.

The Blues got off to a bad start when midfielder Tonali ghosted in at the far post to steer home a pass from Jacob Murphy in the second minute, delighting the home crowd as they basked in the bright sunshine.

Newcastle’s task appeared to get easier when Jackson had his initial yellow card upgraded to a red in the 35th minute after a long VAR review, with the replay showing that the Senegalese striker had looked in the direction of Newcastle’s Dan Burn before leading with his elbow toward the
defender’s face.

Despite going down to 10 men, Chelsea dominated for much of the second half, forcing Eddie Howe to make a number of changes to bolster the home side’s defense and, after withstanding Chelsea’s onslaught, Guimaraes finally sealed the three points with a deflected shot from outside the box in the 90th minute.


Arnold eager to steer Iraq to 2026 FIFA World Cup

Updated 10 May 2025
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Arnold eager to steer Iraq to 2026 FIFA World Cup

  • Iraq's only appearance at the tournament was in 1986
  • “What is important is we all believe we can win the next two games,” Arnold said

BAGHDAD: Graham Arnold is confident he can help Iraq qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time in 40 years after he was appointed as the country's national coach on Friday.

Asked whether Iraq can make the cut for the 2026 tournament which will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the Australian told the federation’s website: "That’s my goal.


“That’s what I want to do. I haven’t come here to not be successful, and everyone in this room has to believe that. We can do it.

Iraq's only appearance at the tournament was in 1986, when they were eliminated after the group phase.

Arnold replaced Spaniard Jesus Casas whose contract was terminated by the local soccer governing body in the wake of a 2-1 loss to Palestine in March.

That result left the Iraqis in third place in the standings in Group B, four points adrift of leaders South Korea and one behind Jordan with two games left.

The top two nations in each of Asia's three qualifying groups advance automatically for the World Cup while the teams in third and fourth progress to another round of preliminaries.

“What is important is we all believe we can win the next two games, that is my first objective for Iraq,” he said.

Arnold's first game in charge will be against South Korea in Basra on June 5. They then face Jordan in Amman five days later.


Bayern Munich celebrate Bundesliga title with last home win for Thomas Müller

Updated 10 May 2025
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Bayern Munich celebrate Bundesliga title with last home win for Thomas Müller


BERLIN: Thomas Müller led Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title celebrations after helping the team beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0 in his last home game for the club on Saturday.

After being presented with the trophy, Bayern captain Manuel Neuer gave it to Müller to hoist toward the Munich sky and start the confetti-filled celebrations.

There was another outpouring of emotion when Harry Kane got his chance to lift the “salad bowl” — it’s the England captain’s first team trophy after a career of near-misses.

Bayern won the title last weekend and Michael Olize made sure of this win by scoring one goal and setting up the other for Kane’s league-leading 25th of the season to get the party underway in Munich.

Relegation decided
Bochum and Holstein Kiel were relegated while Leipzig’s hopes of Champions League qualification were over after drawing at Werder Bremen 0-0.

Last-placed Bochum lost at home to Mainz 4-1, and Kiel lost at home 2-1 to Freiburg, which consolidated fourth place and were well-placed for Champions League qualification.

Leipzig’s scoreless draw in Bremen left them four points behind Freiburg with one round remaining, meaning they can no longer qualify for Europe’s lucrative premier competition.

Neither Bochum nor Kiel have any possibility of catching third-from-bottom Heidenheim following the latter’s 3-0 win at Union Berlin. Heidenheim made sure of at least a relegation playoff place.

With one game left to play, Bochum had 22 points, Kiel 25, and Heidenheim 29 – just two behind St. Pauli, which had two matches remaining. St. Pauli play their penultimate match at third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Bochum needed to avoid defeat and hope for a favor from Union against Heidenheim at the same time. But Mainz were 3-0 up before Bochum scored. Mainz confirmed Bochum’s seventh demotion from the top division.

Bochum were promoted to the Bundesliga as the second division champion in 2021, ending an 11-year absence from the top division.

Bochum defeated Bayern 3-2 away in March, but they were Dieter Hecking’s team’s only win in their last 11 games.

“I’ve been relegated before, it’s anything but nice. You could see it with the lads, tears were flowing,” Bochum captain Maximilian Wittek said. “It’s among the worst things that can happen in football.”

Kiel also gone
Kiel were promoted for the first time only last season and coach Marcel Rapp’s team have quickly returned to the second division.

Kiel scored first but Johan Manzambi equalized before the break and Lucas Höler headed Freiburg toward the Champions League.

Freiburg moved four points clear of Borussia Dortmund, which visit Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday for Xabi Alonso’s last home game as Leverkusen coach. A Leverkusen win would send Freiburg to the Champions League.

Later, Hamburger SV had the chance to be promoted back to the division with a win at home against Ulm in the second division. Thousands of blue-clad fans greeted the team bus on its way to the stadium with songs, flags and flares.


Lazio snatch last-gasp draw with Champions League rivals Juve

Updated 10 May 2025
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Lazio snatch last-gasp draw with Champions League rivals Juve

  • Igor Tudor’s team are level on 64 points with Lazio in fifth
  • Randal Kolo Muani netted Juve’s goal in the 51st minute

ROME: Matias Vecino snatched a precious 1-1 draw for Lazio against 10-man Juventus with a stoppage-time equalizer in an enthralling battle between top-four rivals.

Uruguayan Vecino tapped home from close range after a miraculous Michele Di Gregorio save from Valentin Castellanos to spare Lazio from what would have been a painful defeat.

Juventus, who played for over half an hour with 10 men after Pierre Kalulu was sent off for striking out at Lazio striker Castellanos, stay fourth.

But Igor Tudor’s team are level on 64 points with Lazio in fifth, with sixth-placed Roma a point behind ahead of their clash at Atalanta on Monday night.

Randal Kolo Muani netted Juve’s goal in the 51st minute at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, his seventh goal in Italy’s top flight since signing on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in January.

Juve thought they were set to win when they survived a penalty scare moments before Vecino’s leveller, when Di Gregorio brought down Castellanos who was then ruled by VAR to have been offside.

But Vecino stepped up to save a point for Lazio and leave the fight for the final two Champions League spots firmly in the balance.