Mohamed Salah’s incredible season continued as Liverpool demolished AS Roma in their Champions League semi final first leg on Tuesday.
Mohamed Salah scored two and assisted another two as the Reds ran out 5-2 winners in a one sided match at Anfield.
The Egyptian opened the scoring, after Aleksandar Kolarov’s rattled their post, when he put the hosts 1-0 up after the half-hour mark before making it 2-0 on the stroke of half time.
Those goals were Mohamed Salah’s 42nd and 43rd, with ten of those coming in the CL, in what has been an excellent debut season for Jurgen Klopp side.
He’s now four goals short of the Liverpool record held by legendary forward, Ian Rush.
After the break, having wasted so many chances in the opening half, Senegal international, Sadio Mane finally got his name on the score sheet as he made it 3-0 for the home side.
With Liverpool looking unstoppable, it went from bad to worse for the away side, when a brace from Brazilian forward, Robert Firmino saw Klopp’s side cruising 5-0, and looking certain for a place in next month’s final.
#UCL 2017/18…
Salah ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
Firmino ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
Mane ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽#LIVROM pic.twitter.com/pNABExRoOJ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 24, 2018
However, Roma won’t go down without a fight, and with nine minutes left to play, they pull a goal back through Edin Dzeko to make it 5-1.
Four minutes later, Roma struck again to keep alive their hopes, Diego Perotti converting this time from the spot to bring scores to 5-2.
An incredible final minutes sees Liverpool having to withstand late pressure from their visitors.
The Reds would hold on for the win and a comfortable advantage heading into the second leg next week in Italy.
“We’re disappointed with the two goals because we felt we were in control,” Reds captain, Jordan Henderson, said after the game. “At the same time, we played well, we won the game and we’ll go there with a three-goal advantage.”
The five-time winners of the competition go into next week’s second leg in Rome the favorites to go through, but will be wary of a repeat of what happened to La Liga giants, Barcelona in their quarter final clash against the Serie A side.
