This weekend, Mohamed Salah was Liverpool‘s star performer as they devastated old rivals Manchester United 7-0 in a result that sent shockwaves across the football world, with the Reds talisman breaking Robbie Fowler’s long-standing Premier League record in the process.
Elsewhere, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting celebrated his long-awaited new contract at Bayern Munich with a Bundesliga winner against Stuttgart, while Victor Osimhen‘s goalscoring run came to an abrupt end against Lazio.
Salah over Stevie G?!
Salah has, of course, already made history against Manchester United in his career, famously striking a hat-trick against the Red Devils in October 2021 to become the first visiting player since the original Ronaldo in 2003 to score three times at Old Trafford.
The Egyptian has that trait — which is typical of many of the game’s very best goal-getters — of identifying an opponent’s vulnerability, and going straight for the jugular.
Even as the two sides traded hostilities during the early exchanges, it was clear that United feared Salah, with the visiting defenders attempting to discourage the 30-year-old from making his mark on the contest.
As a remarkable contest wore on, several vulnerabilities emerged, but none more so than a succession of left-sided defenders — Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia — all of whom bore the brunt of Salah’s panoply of talents.
Cody Gakpo may have scored the goal of the day — his second, Liverpool’s third — but it was made by Salah, who tore into space down the Reds’ right flank, flummoxed Martinez with his acceleration and agility, before prodding through for the Dutch wideman to finish.
Salah also set up Roberto Firmino for the Reds’ seventh, on 88 minutes, having earlier scored two of his own.
This was a glimpse of a Jurgen Klopp Liverpool side of old — their intensity, their focus, their relentlessness — and a Salah performance reminiscent of his displays in the tail end of 2021, when he looked like a Ballon d’Or winner elect, or even in the magnificent 2017-18 season when he marked his Anfield arrival with 32 league goals in 36 outings.
His double took his Premier League tally up to 129 top flight goals for Liverpool, taking him above Merseyside great Robbie Fowler as the club’s leading Premier League goalscorer.
“It’s very special, I can’t lie,” Salah told Liverpool’s media team. “This record was in my mind since I came here. I think after my first season I was always chasing that record.”
While this devastating display from this new-look Reds — with Nunez and Gakpo dazzling alongside Salah — bodes well for the club’s future, the Egyptian legend’s legacy is secure as one of the club’s true idols.
Including the two goals Salah scored during his brief Chelsea stint, only 14 players have ever scored more since the Prem was launched in 1992, and surely a case could be made that the Egyptian, not Steven Gerrard, is the Anfield giants’ greatest player of the Premier League era.
Eric Maxim(ising) his Bayern form
Life after Liverpool hasn’t been plain-sailing for Sadio Mane, with injury overshadowing his maiden season at Bayern Munich. His comeback continued apace against VfB Stuttgart this weekend, as he played the final 27 minutes in a 2-1 victory for the Bavarians.
The day, however, belonged to Choupo-Moting, who celebrated his new contract signing at Bayern with the visitors’ winner as they remain level on points with Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga.
Whether the 33-year-old would finally get the contract offer he’s craved for so long at Bayern has been one of the subplots of an excellent campaign for the veteran — his goal against Stuttgart was his tenth in 17 league outings.
On Friday, an extension was agreed, with the former Paris Saint-Germain man putting pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him at Bayern until June 2024.
Already, Choupo-Moting has matched his previous career best league goal return — 10 with Mainz in 2011-12 and 13-14 — and with three goals in his last three matches, he appears primed to extend his fine run against former club PSG in Champions League action on Wednesday.
Osimhen stopped in his tracks
In Italy, the Nigeria striker’s own magnificent goalscoring run came to a halt at home as Napoli were beaten 1-0 by Lazio, falling to only their second league defeat of the season, with the Super Eagle hitting the woodwork during a frustrating display.
It won’t be a massive setback to their title aspirations — Napoli are 15 points clear of Internazionale with 13 matches to play — but it did mark the end of a remarkable spell for Osimhen, having scored in each of his last eight league games.
He last failed to net in the league on January 4, bagging 10 during that spell as the Partenopei have tightened their grip on a first Scudetto since 1990.
Osimhen’s run of scoring in eight consecutive matches means he falls short of Gabriel Batistuta’s all-time Serie A record of scoring in 11 games between September and November 1994, and with rumours intensifying that the Nigerian is Premier League-bound, he may not get the opportunity to have another stab at Batigol’s record.
Expecting to join Osimhen in Nigeria’s squad for their Africa Cup of Nations double-header against Guinea-Bissau is wideman Samuel Chukwueze, who’s hitting some of the best form of his career as Villarreal maintain their continental charge.
The winger, enjoying a new lease of life under Unai Emery’s successor Quique Setien, registered both assists on Saturday as Villarreal dispatched Almeria 2-0 away.
Coming on the back of an inspired display at home against Getafe last weekend, and his goal against Mallorca, Chukwueze has now had a hand in five goals in his last three games – eclipsing his tally for the previous five months.
The prospect of Chukwueze and Osimhen linking up together for the Super Eagles should be tantalising for Nigeria fans.
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