There was a “pretty loud reception” for Mohamed Salah following his 200th goal for Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp revealing the scenes in the dressing room.
After two games without a goal, Salah ended his wait for a landmark strike for the club, hitting his 200th to make it 1-1 at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
It was far from his finest, but it was a momentous one for the Egyptian, who becomes only the fifth player in history to score 200 or more for Liverpool.
Joining Ian Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285), Gordon Hodgson (241) and Billy Liddell (228) on the list, Salah has long cemented his legend at Anfield, while his effort at Selhurst Park also saw him move joint-10th among the all-time Premier League scorers on 150.
After making it 199 in the 4-0 win over LASK on November 30, Salah was made to wait for his milestone – and, as Klopp revealed in his post-match press conference, so too were his team-mates.
“Pretty impressive, eh?” reflected the manager, who presented his No. 11 with a special ‘Salah 200’ shirt in the dressing room.
“We’ve carried that shirt already for two weeks with us, now finally we could give it to him.
“It was pretty much the best moment to score it, to be 100 percent honest.
“Incredible number for a super special, super-super special player. I don’t know how often he saved us with a goal he scored in the right moment.
“It was a pretty loud reception for him in the dressing room, when I gave him the shirt with the 200 on the back.
“The players were asking for a speech, but you’ll have to ask him if he gave one, because I had to go for media work then so I don’t know.
Another @MoSalah milestone day to smile about ? pic.twitter.com/dcA3GW9ZAr
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 9, 2023
“But really, really special. Really happy for him.
“Now that’s off the shoulder, because when you have 199 it’s probably different to when you have 198. So now we can go for the next 100.”
Of those to score 50 or more for Liverpool, only Hodgson (1.56) and Luis Suarez (1.62) had a better games per goal ratio than Salah (1.64).
His influence on Klopp’s side cannot be undersold, with the importance clearly not lost on his team-mates on Saturday.
