English Professional Soccer Premier League (EPL) ‘Pharaoh’ Muhammad Salah, 31, has reached the milestone of scoring his 200th goal for Liverpool.
Salah scored the equalizer in the 31st minute of Liverpool’s 0-1 away win over Crystal Palace in the 16th round of the 2023-2024 EPL at Selhurst Park in London, England, on Tuesday (June 10).
The ball was played in by Curtis Jones at the edge of the area and Salah finished with a left-footed non-stop shot that beat a defender and split the post.
It was Salah’s 200th official goal in all competitions for the club, having played for Liverpool since the 2017-2018 season.
It was also his 150th career EPL goal.
One of the best goalscorers in the EPL, Salah’s career has been so stellar that it’s safe to say he’s already booked his place in Liverpool’s ‘legend’ books.
From his debut season with the Reds, he has dazzled. He scored a whopping 32 goals to become the league’s top scorer. The local media nicknamed him “Pharaoh” for his Egyptian roots.
The 32 goals were the most ever scored in the top flight of English soccer since the league went to a 38-game format. The record was set last season by Elling Holland (Manchester City) with 36 goals.
As frightening as the explosiveness was, it was the consistency. Salah scored 20 or more goals in the EPL in 2018-2019, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022, and was responsible for 19 goals in each of the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 seasons.
He was also the EPL’s top scorer two more times.
In 2018-2019, he shared the Golden Boot with Sadio Mane (Liverpool) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal-now), and in 2021-2022, he shared the honor with South Korea’s Son Heung-min (Tottenham).
This season, he has 11 goals. If he maintains his scoring pace in the second half of the season, he will surpass the 20-goal mark again.
With a numerical advantage after Crystal Palace’s Jordand Ayew was sent off in the 30th minute for accumulating cautions, Liverpool capitalized on Salah’s equalizer a minute later and Harvey Elliott’s late winner in the 46th minute.
With their third straight win, Liverpool leapfrogged Arsenal (36 points) to the top of the standings with 37 points.
The gap to defending champions Manchester City, who have faltered of late, has widened to seven points.
Liverpool will look to regain the EPL crown for the first time in four years after the 2019-2020 season.
“I have the mentality (as in the title season) that I have to fight to the end, and we all do,” Salah said after the game, adding that he believes “we can do something special this year.”
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp revealed in his press conference that the club had been waiting for Salah to reach the 200-goal milestone with a commemorative t-shirt for months.
“We can finally give Salah a shirt,” he said, “I can’t tell you how many times he’s saved us with a timely goal. Now that he has taken the burden of 199 goals off his shoulders, he will be looking to reach the next 100.” 토토
