Curtis Jones sends instant reminder to Liverpool fans after Mo Salah comments
LIVERPOOL 2-1 LILLE: If this is Mohamed Salah’s last season at Anfield, he is getting a lot of love on his way out after Curtis Jones joined him on the hoardings for a sit-down celebration following Liverpool's opening goal
After the sweetest of long-range assists, Curtis Jones could not wait to catch up with Mohamed Salah.
He joined Salah on the hoardings in a sit-down celebration before hauling his team-mate to his feet and theatrically pointing at Liverpool ’s jewel.
As if there was a soul inside Anfield who did not know it, Jones was reminding them of the identity of this team’s main man.
He might also have been telling Salah that he really does like him as much as, if not more than, he liked Eden Hazard.
READ MORE: Liverpool reach last 16 as Mo Salah hits new landmark in Lille win - 5 talking pointsREAD MORE: BREAKING: Mohamed Salah drops clearest hint yet over Liverpool contract decision(Jones had suggested to Rio Ferdinand that Hazard was his favourite, apparently.)
Either way, the smile on Salah’s face told you he appreciated the gesture. If this, indeed, Salah’s last season at Anfield, he is getting a lot of love on his way out.
As it happened, Salah’s latest strike was not the decisive one - it was cancelled out by a Jonathan David equaliser in the second half - but it set the tone for yet another Champions League win for Arne Slot ’s side.
Slot made a couple of changes that might have been seen as resting key men but Liverpool’s relatively clean bit of health and strength in depth means that the odd alteration is never going to impact their efficiency. And that is the trademark of this Liverpool team. Efficiency.
Slot has an outstanding group of players but it is also a group of players that tends to get the job done even if there is a struggle for fluency. There was certainly a struggle for fluency in the first half-hour of this match, Salah’s consistently errant passing typical of proceedings.
But Mo is a man for moments and another magical one arrived after Kostas Tsimikas had ambushed David and Jones had struck a wonderfully simple but cutting pass.
Lucas Chevalier was smartly off his line to try and make life difficult for Salah but the Egyptian nonchalantly clipped in his 50th European goal for Liverpool.
Jones insisted the acclaim should be for Salah but Slot would have been equally delighted with the midfielder’s pass and the initial intervention from Tsimikas. They are all cogs in a well-oiled machine. Efficiency.
Yes, that word again. Want further evidence? Well, this Champions League qualifying stage has been a defensive tour de force from Liverpool.
They conceded a goal in the third minute of their opening match against Milan … and did not concede another until just after the hour mark of game number seven.
For once, their defensive efficiency momentarily failed them, Conor Bradley allowing Gabriel Gudmonsson to get to the by-line and after Hakon Haraldsson’s effort was blocked by Tsimikas, David fired in the equaliser.
The leveller was even more surprising in that Lille had been reduced to ten men after Aissa Mendi was shown a second yellow card for a cynical foul on Luis Diaz.
And in the wake of the David goal, Slot’s team made their numerical superiority count, even if Harvey Elliott’s strike did need a hugely fortuitous deflection to maintain Liverpool’s flawless Champions League record.
Lucky or not, it was a nice moment for Elliott and means Slot can now rest as many frontline players as he wants for the concluding fixture.
But you can bet there will be one marquee player who will not be asking for a night off. Mohamed Salah is not one for resting, that's for sure.
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