Salah talks ‘revenge’ mission as he collects award
Liverpool's Egyptian star Mo Salah has called his team's upcoming Champions League final clash with Real Madrid a “revenge mission” as he focuses on what could be the greatest single season haul of trophies ever claimed by an English club.
Salah and his Reds teammates are already guaranteed to play in every possible game this season after reaching the finals of both domestic cups in England, as well as the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp's men area also involved in nailbiting photo-finish with Manchester City in the hunt for the Premier League crown as the English season winds down to its dramatic conclusion.
And after collecting the Footballer of the Year award from the Football Writers' Association on Thursday, Salah maintains that Liverpool's battle on all fronts could yield some very significant – and historic – dividends.
“It feels great,” Salah said after collecting the accolade, which was the result of a vote by around 400 football writers.
“First of all, I want to thank everyone who voted for me. Of course, journalists are a big part of the football family, and hopefully we can win some more this season.
“I think so,” he added, when discussing if the quadruple was a reasonable possibility. "Not everything is in our hands – we have to win our games in the Premier League and see if City drop points or not. They have a great team, great manager, I'm sure they want to keep winning. But it's possible.
“First we have to finish our games in the Premier League and then we'll see. We have four games left, City as well have four games left in which they can drop points. We just need to focus on the Spurs game and go from there.
“We've been together for five years, we know what it takes to win. In the last game we were 2-0 down, away, and we managed to come back. That's really important for our mindset, for the next games. We have the mindset we can win any trophy.”
If all goes to plan for Salah and co., the quadruple would come down to the May 28 Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris – in what is a repeat of the same fixture from the 2017-18 season, in which the Spanish giants came out on top 3-1.
Salah quite obviously has bad memories from that encounter in Kiev – not least down to exiting the game after just 30 minutes after he suffered a serious shoulder injury after a tussle with Madrid icon Sergio Ramos.
And even amid the PR-heavy pleasantries on show at the glitzy awards bash, Salah couldn't help but admit that the topic of revenge is front and center in his mind.
“I'm so excited, I'm sure the team as well is so excited about it. I'm sure it's going to be a tough game, they've beaten a lot of good teams. We just need to focus on the game,” he said
“Yeah, we lost in the (2018) final, it was a sad day for all of us. It's revenge time.”
