Mohamed Salah becomes Liverpool’s all-time Premier League scorer

Breaking Liverpool’s Premier League goals record was a personal mission for Mohamed Salah ever since his debut season at the club. To say he hit the ground running would be an understatement, and then he just kept going. Salah found the net 32 times in 36 games in 2017/18 and, following sizeable goal tallies each season thereafter, needed just two more goals to overtake Robbie Fowler’s 128-goal benchmark for Liverpool as he prepared for Sunday’s clash against eternal rivals Manchester United.

Salah crowned Liverpool’s top EPL scorer against United

This has been a quiet season for the Egypt international by his own standards - he had scored just nine league goals in 24 outings for Jürgen Klopp’s side before the United game. But a brace was indeed to come at Anfield in what was to be not only a historic day for him, but also the team. Leading by just a single goal at half-time, The Reds were insatiable in the second, knocking home a further six. When the final whistle blew, Klopp’s side had secured their biggest ever win over United and the two for Salah were enough to reach his desired total. The Egyptian King had overtaken the man known by the Liverpool faithful as ‘God’.

Salah ahead of breaking Fowler record

Before the game Sky Sports asked Salah if he was aware of how close he was to Fowler’s record, to which the 30-year-old replied, “This record especially, I think for me, it is really special. I think when I came, after my first season, I had 32 goals, and I thought I want to be the top scorer for Liverpool in the Premier League. I had that in my mind that I need to chase it. That was one of my motivations.

“Every day I [would] just wake up and I’d want to break that record. For me, it is going to be special. To be number one will be special for my career here in Liverpool. It’s something I’ve been really chasing.”

Salah’s Premier League goals per season at Anfield

*Number of appearances in brackets

Erik ten Hag’s side presented the perfect opportunity for Salah to enjoy a landmark moment, having previously netted 10 times in all competitions against United – no Liverpool player has scored more in this fixture, Steven Gerrard being the next in the list on nine. Salah now has 12.

“I think I started to look more at that number maybe when I scored 15, 20...” Salah continued in his pre-match interview. “But then I was thinking that it is still so far away – more than 100 goals. I wasn’t sure how many seasons I would be here, because it was my first season and after how many seasons [will it take] to break that record. But if you break it after six seasons then that is something great and something that I will be very proud of.”

The Premier League’s top-scoring African players

Salah already boasted the record as the top-scoring African player in the Premier League, while he grabbed Liverpool’s European scoring record with a goal in the recent 2-5 Champions League mauling to Real Madrid - that goal, his 42nd in Europe, taking him past Gerrard. While he suggested Fowler’s record may mark his greatest Liverpool achievement, the Egyptian insisted that personal milestones are always secondary to team success.

“I’ve had good ones at Liverpool,” he said of his record-breaking feats, before adding: “To be fair, as long as we achieve something as a team that is the most important thing for me. I don’t want to be in a smaller team and be the only one breaking records. For me, I want to win trophies, I want the players to be happy, and I’m in a top club. To break that record in a club like Liverpool is something [that is going to be] huge.”