Mo Salah breaks Premier League record and sends Arne Slot clear message as Liverpool beat Brighton | OneFootball

After holding clear-the-air talks with Arne Slot, Mohamed Salah made his Liverpool return against Brighton and helped his side to a 2-0 win at Anfield.

Salah expressed his frustrations after being left on the bench for their 3-3 draw with Leeds United last weekend and accused Slot of throwing him under the bus.

The club subsequently decided to drop him from the travelling squad for the Champions League game against Inter Milan and Slot’s side won 1-0 without the Egypt international.

When asked on Friday whether Salah had played his final game for the club, Slot said: “I will have a conversation with Mo this morning. The outcome of that conversation determines how it will look tomorrow.

“What I need is a conversation with him and the next time I speak about Mo should be with him and not in here. There’s not much more to say about it. I will speak to him today and the outcome of that conversation determines how things will look tomorrow.

“You can try it in multiple ways, the next time I speak should be with him. We’ve spoken a lot in the last week, after the Sunderland game, there have been a lot of conversations between his representatives and ours, between him and me.

“And today I will speak with him again.”

His return

Following those conversations, Slot ultimately decided to name Salah on the bench against Brighton, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Florian Wirtz starting just behind Hugo Ekitike.

The Reds got off to a dream start at Anfield as Ekitike opened the scoring after just 46 seconds, making it the quickest Premier League goal of the season so far.

But Slot was forced into a change in the 26th minute after defender Joe Gomez was forced off with an injury.

Despite having three defenders on the bench, the manager decided to replace Gomez with Salah and Szoboszlai slotted in at right-back.

The Egpyt international received a huge ovation from the Reds fans and made an immediate impact, almost setting up Alexis Mac Allister just a minute after being introduced.

Liverpool doubled their lead in the 60th minute when Salah took a corner and picked out an unmarked Ekitike, who rose highest and headed past the Brighton goalkeeper.

“He gave me a great ball, I just had to be in a good place,” Ekitike said after the game. “That’s what I did and it was easy to finish.”

Salah’s assist took him to 277 goal involvements in 302 Premier League appearances for Liverpool – the most by any player for a single club in the competition, overtaking Wayne Rooney (276) at Manchester United.

He is on 280 Premier League goal involvements overall, with his first three coming for Chelsea in 2013/14, and is now only behind Rooney (311) and Alan Shearer (324) in that regard.

The 33-year-old seemed to be playing with a point to prove against Brighton after being dropped by Slot, while Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher recently said his legs had gone.

He had a lively performance, getting 45 touches, completing 27 of his 32 passes (84%), completing one successful dribble, taking three shots, creating five chances and producing the aforementioned assist.

Slot’s reaction

“I think he was a threat,” Slot told reporters after the game. “I think the first ball he touched he almost gave an assist to [Alexis] Mac Allister who squared it, I think, and maybe was a chance for him to shoot as well.

“He was constantly in the threat we had. It was pleasing to see but also not a surprise because he has done that many times in a Liverpool shirt.”

Asked if Salah had indicated he wants to stay at Liverpool, Slot added: “I think you already know the answer to that.

“What has been said between the two of us in that conversation stays between us. What you see is what you get to know, that he was in the squad and my first substitution.

“All the other things that have been said in that conversation, I never speak about when I speak to Virgil [van Dijk] or Mo [Salah] or any other player. I never tell you guys what we talk about.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot

His future

Last weekend, Salah said he had invited his family to come to the Brighton game, hinting that the clash could be his last for Liverpool.

He patted the Liverpool badge and applauded all four corners of the Anfield crowd at full-time, but there were no explosive post-match comments this week as he turned down interview requests in the mixed zone.

The 33-year-old is set to report for national team duty on Monday before the Africa Cup of Nations. Egypt play their first game on Monday 22 December and will be hoping to reach the final, which will be played on Sunday 18 January.

A number of Saudi Pro League clubs are keeping an eye on his situation but his return against Brighton suggested that the relationship between Salah and Slot can be fixed.