All smiles for Mohamed Salah, who played like he had a point to prove as Liverpool beat Brighton – The Athletic
Mohamed Salah was the last Liverpool player to leave the pitch.
The Egyptian attacker applauded all four sides of Anfield after the final whistle — stopping briefly to tap the club crest on his shirt, and later posting a video of the moment on Instagram — before disappearing down the tunnel.
Was this really goodbye? Time will tell, but it certainly felt more like au revoir, as he now departs to link up with the Egypt squad for the Africa Cup of Nations starting in Morocco next week.
Uncertainty continues to surround Salah’s future after his incendiary outburst at Leeds United’s Elland Road a week ago. His return to the squad for Saturday’s home game against Brighton & Hove Albion, after being banished for the midweek Champions League trip to play Inter in Milan, came following positive discussions with head coach Arne Slot at the training ground on Friday.
A truce has been agreed but what happens next remains unclear, after Salah claimed last weekend that his relationship with Slot had broken down and suggested he could move on in January as “someone doesn’t want me in the club”.
It was all smiles this afternoon, but the situation remains that he doesn’t want to sit on Liverpool’s bench, and Slot doesn’t currently regard the 33-year-old as part of the club’s best starting XI. That’s the crux of the issue.
Talks between Salah’s representative Ramy Abbas and Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes will continue over the coming weeks.
Salah applauds the Anfield crowd at the end of Saturday’s game (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
All parties will now have some much-needed breathing space, given that his involvement at AFCON means he’s not expected back until mid-January.
Salah, who hasn’t started any of Liverpool’s past five matches, was giving nothing away as he walked through the post-game mixed zone — where players can stop to speak to reporters if they choose — after coming off the bench to help Slot’s side beat Brighton 2-0 with an assist for the second goal. “Two weeks in a row? No, no, no,” he said with a grin on his face as he politely turned down interview requests. He had just been having a catch-up with former Anfield team-mate James Milner, now a Brighton player, outside the away dressing room.
What is clear is that supporters are desperate for him to stay put. He has turned their dreams into reality over the past eight years — rewriting the Anfield record books and lifting a stack of trophies and individual accolades in the process.
And his performance against Brighton added weight to the argument that he’s still got so much to offer as Liverpool look to salvage something from this difficult season. Sent on midway through the first half when injury forced Joe Gomez off, he played like someone with a point to prove as he ran the visitors’ back line ragged.
In providing the assist for Hugo Ekitike to head home his second goal of the afternoon, Salah created more history.
He now holds the record for most goal involvements by anyone for a single Premier League club, moving above Wayne Rooney. That was his 277th in a Liverpool shirt (188 goals, 89 assists).
The numbers behind Salah’s record-breaking goal involvements 📈 pic.twitter.com/mbIFhSGoki
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 13, 2025
The afternoon had started with Salah emerging for the warm-up deep in conversation with team-mate Dominik Szoboszlai, who draped a friendly arm around his shoulder. Salah took his seat on the bench before kick-off, pulling his snood up over his mouth as he shared a joke with fellow substitute Andy Robertson.
Gomez’s misfortune ensured that Salah got on to the field earlier in the game than anyone inside Anfield had anticipated.
Liverpool’s longest-serving player dropped to his haunches close to the halfway line in the 25th minute, and it soon became clear he wouldn’t be able to continue due to discomfort in his hamstring. It was cruel on Gomez, who had started the game brilliantly. He created Ekitike’s opening goal after just 46 seconds with a brave header as he pounced on Yankuba Minteh’s wayward clearance.
Slot could have turned to Calvin Ramsay as a direct positional replacement but opted to bring Salah on and move Szoboszlai to right-back. The sight of his No 11 going up on the fourth official’s board as he received some instructions from assistant coach Aaron Briggs on the touchline triggered a huge ovation for the third-leading goalscorer in the club’s history as the Kop chanted about their ‘Egyptian King’.
Salah had an instant impact as he teed up Alexis Mac Allister, who wastefully squandered the opportunity. He was then involved in a sweeping counter-attack which ended with Ekitike volleying wide.
Going forward, Liverpool played today with a fluency and intensity that’s been sadly lacking for so much of this season. What was most striking about Salah was the sight of him sprinting back to help out inside his own box as Brighton broke away after Florian Wirtz had been dispossessed. There’s been so much talk this season about Salah not doing enough for the team defensively, with opponents repeatedly targeting the space behind him. With his goals and assists drying up, there’s been more scrutiny on other parts of his game.
It was Slot’s desire to change the system of play and make Liverpool more compact after last month’s 4-1 loss against Dutch visitors PSV in the Champions League that led to Salah being dropped, and since then they have remained unbeaten with three wins and two draws.
Watching Salah perform on Saturday, it felt like the shackles were off. He was so much more involved both with and without the ball as he closed down defenders and forced mistakes. He also benefited from the fact that so many team-mates around him were performing at a high level, with welcome signs of belief returning to the side.
Just like in Italy in midweek, Liverpool also enjoyed some good fortune, with Diego Gomez hitting the post when he should have equalised and Brajan Gruda drilling a shot narrowly wide soon after.
Salah unselfishly squared to Ekitike, who failed to hit the target, and then saw a powerful left-footer from the edge of the box turned behind by Bart Verbruggen.
After swinging in the corner which the unmarked Ekitike nodded in to double the lead on the hour, Salah raised a clenched fist to the Kop in celebration. His song was chanted even louder.
Ekitike scores his side’s second goal from a Salah corner (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Salah should have scored in stoppage time but as he stretched to meet Federico Chiesa’s cross, he couldn’t keep his shot down. Then there was a wry smile from him as he overhit a pass when he could have played in Virgil van Dijk or Robertson. By the end, he had won four of his six duels and created five chances.
“For me, there is no issue to resolve. For me, he is now the same as any other player,” insisted Slot in his post-match press conference.
“I never speak about what I talk about with players, and I am not going to make an exception now, but actions speak louder than words, and he was in the squad again. When I had to make my first substitution, I brought him in, and he performed as every fan, including me, would like him to perform.”
Salah certainly left an appreciative Anfield crowd wanting more.
The message as they serenaded him after the final whistle was clear — they don’t want this to be the end.
