Celebrating Mo Salah’s Best Goals In Europe For Liverpool as He Joins the 50 Club

There are plenty of milestones and records of which Mo Salah is the sole owner at Liverpool FC, and he’s now taken up membership of another club in which he’s the only member.

The Egyptian scored his 50th European goal for Liverpool in the 2-1 Champions League win over Lille.

He admitted that although he ‘wasn’t focused’ on the milestone before the game, he was ‘very proud’ of his achievement. “Hopefully [it’s] not the last one!” he joked, in a way that would have been funny but for his ongoing contract issues.

Salah is the only player in Liverpool history to bring up a half century of goals on the continent, with Steven Gerrard (41) and Sadio Mane (26) his closest company.

To make matters all the more impressive, Salah brought up his 50th goal in just his 83rd continental appearance; that 0.60 goal per game ratio is better than any other player in Liverpool’s top ten all-time leading scorers in Europe. Some 44 of those goals have come in the Champions League, one in Champions League qualifying and five in the Europa League.

All goals count equally, of course, but Salah is not known for his tap ins. In fact, some of his very best goals in a Liverpool shirt have come in continental competition, so to celebrate him joining the 50 club – membership: one – here’s a look back at some of the Egyptian’s finest strikes in continental action.

Roma (April 2018)

There’s a few reasons why this goal, the opener in a 5-2 win over Roma, is so beloved.

The first is that it’s quintessential Salah. Receiving the ball in his favoured inside right channel, the Egyptian shimmies and opens up his body to create the perfect angle with which to sweep a curling shot across the goalkeeper – who, in this case, just happens to be Alisson from his days with the Italian club – and into the top corner.

The second reason why this has to be considered one of Salah’s best Champions League goals is its importance. This was the first leg of the semifinal of the 2017/18 season, with Roma coming out of the traps fast at Anfield and creating a series of good chances.

But Salah’s beautiful strike came just before half time, taking the sting out of the visitors, before the Egyptian himself added a second in injury time.

The Reds ran riot in the second period, with Mane and a brace from Bobby Firmino opening up a 5-0 cushion, before Roma hit back late through Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti.

Liverpool reached the final, despite losing the second leg 2-4 in Rome, where they were downed 1-3 by Real Madrid.

Red Bull Salzburg (December 2019)

Two goals in a minute settled this group stage tie in favour of the Reds.

Naby Keita netted the first in the 57th minute against his former club, but it was Salah’s second just a matter of moments later that really got fans out of their seats.

A hopeful punt forward was met by a Salzburg defender, who attempted to head the ball back to his goalkeeper, Cican Stankovic. Having got his angles all wrong, the ball was simply nodded in the direction of the corner flag.

Salah, showcasing a trademark burst of pace, got there ahead of Stankovic and toe-ended the ball around the keeper. But the angle was now well and truly against the Egyptian, who responded by… well, by somehow side-footing home, on his weaker foot no less, and despite being almost parallel to the goal line.

The Liverpool substitutes, warming up in that corner of the pitch, could barely believe what they had seen.

Ajax (October 2022)

The Dutch side were on top, despite the 0-0 scoreline, deep into the first half of this Champions League group stage game in Amsterdam.

But as is so often the case in close encounters of this magnitude, a single moment of brilliance can be decisive – and, yet again, it was Salah who was Liverpool’s hero with a magic finish.

After Virgil van Dijk had dealt with a long Ajax ball forward, a quick passing interchange found Jordan Henderson, unusually out on the left wing, in a pocket of space.

He hit a sublime pass with the outside of his right foot into the path of the onrushing Salah, who had broken the Ajax backline.

But the Egyptian still had a huge amount to do as he addressed the ball first time… clipping an audacious chip over Remko Pasveer and into the back of the Ajax net.

It was a moment of sheer wizardry, and the sort of thing Liverpool fans have enjoyed in many of his 50 goals – and counting – for the club in Europe.