Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah has sent the internet into a state of shock simply by shaving his beard, posting a picture of his new, fresh-faced appearance on Sunday.
Salah posted a picture of himself looking clean-shaven to his 23 million followers on Instagram on Sunday morning.
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Fans of the ‘Egyptian King’ are more used to seeing him sporting rugged mid-length facial growth, and the change clearly came as a shock.
One Twitter user shared the picture, proclaiming: “Seeing @MoSalah without a beard is like seeing a turtle without a shell.”
Others wrote “I’m convinced he’s some other guy, like an alter ego,” and one person even jokingly put the change down to photoshop.
Salah’s Instagram post amassed well over 1 million likes in the space of just a couple of hours. Some reacted with messages such as “Are you Salah,” written in Turkish.
Teammate Dejan Lovren even added a cheeky dig, writing: “OK, now I believe you are 26.”
Some fans were clearly smitten with the new look, with one person writing: "Still cute x."
Salah appears to have given his beard the chop after he helped Liverpool return to winning ways against Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday.
The Reds went into the game having drawn their last two league matches, being overtaken by title rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
But they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Bournemouth, with Salah adding the third goal early in the second half, which was the prolific Egyptian’s 20th strike in all competitions this season.
Man City could overtake Liverpool at the top of the table later on Sunday, when they meet Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. However, the Reds will have a game in hand on their rivals.