Mohamed Salah instantly overtakes Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool Champions League record

Mohamed Salah has overtaken Steven Gerrard’s Champions League appearance haul in Liverpool’s clash with Atletico Madrid.

The 33-year-old was selected for Wednesday night’s Champions League opener against Diego Simeone’s side at Anfield meaning he has now eclipsed Gerrard’s total of 73 games.

Getty

Salah has now reached 74 Champions League appearances for the Reds but only features second on the list, trailing outright leader Jamie Carragher who clocked up 80 appearances during his career.

It mean’s Salah could eventually eclipse Carragher’s record during the final round of league phase fixtures.

Salah would have to feature in all eight matches culminating in an appearance in the final match against Qarabag at Anfield in late January.

He made an instant impact on the game against Atletico grabbing a goal and an assist inside the first six minutes.

It means he has also scored more goals (45) and got more assists (16) than any other Liverpool player in the Champions League.

Salah’s Champions League record

The Egyptian made his first appearance for Liverpool in the Champions League in a third qualifying round clash away at Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim in August 2017.

He was unable to find the net that night but did so in the return leg eight days later as Liverpool booked their place in the group stage with a 6-3 aggregate win

Salah scored his first group stage goal in the opening game against Sevilla at Anfield.

Arguably his most memorable Champions League goal came in the final in 2019 when he slotted home a second-minute penalty against Tottenham to set the Reds on their way to a sixth title.

Overall, he has gone on to score 44 goals in Europe’s premier club competition, registering 18 assists.

Prior to his time on Merseyside, Salah registered two Champions League goals for Basel and a signal strike for Roma to put him 14th on the competition’s all-time scoring list with 47 goals in 88 matches.

And his next goal will see draw level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andriy Shevchenko’s total of 48 goals.

getty

And while he is unlikely to reach Cristiano Ronaldo‘s haul of 140 Champions League goals, four more strikes will see him surpass another Premier League legend in Thierry Henry who registered 50.

The Egypt international’s brilliance has not been confined to the Champions League as illustrated by Sunday’s last-gasp winner at Burnley.

His penalty at Turf Moor enabled him to become the outright fourth-highest goalscorer in Premier League history, leapfrogging Andy Cole.

That leaves just Alan Shearer, Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney above him in the list of top scorers since the Premier League’s inception in 1992.

Liverpool’s team for Atletico Madrid

Alexander Isak was handed his debut for the club in his first appearance since his British record transfer from Newcastle.

Jeremie Frimpong and Andy Robertson also made Arne Slot’s starting XI.

However, it is the first time in 418 European games that Liverpool have not named an Englishman in their starting XI.

#Mohamed #Salah #instantly #overtakes #Steven #Gerrard8217s #Liverpool #Champions #League #record