Only Salah can save Liverpool's season: Neil Humphreys
Reliable Reds forward feels like the last consistent shining star in Klopp's team
Mohamed Salah always stood out in a Liverpool jersey, but never quite like this.
Before, he was in a class of his own. Now, he's a rare beacon of consistency.
He's a goalscorer who still scores goals. He's a forward still moving forward. He's becoming the Reds' only hope.
Their season hangs by a thread. Only Salah seems capable of saving it.
In their wretched 3-1 Champions League quarter-final, first-leg defeat by Real Madrid yesterday morning (Singapore time), Salah wasn't the brightest star. He was the only star in a bleak landscape.
Watching Salah play with Naby Keita, just metres apart, felt like an experimental art instillation, showcasing the haves and have-nots.
The last time a grown man looked this out of place in a Champions League fixture was when prankster Karl Power threw on a Manchester United kit and stood beside the team for their pre-match photo against Bayern Munich in 2001.
Clearly, the man was not a Champions League player and didn't belong there. Power looked out of place, too.
But Keita has unwittingly encapsulated Liverpool's current predicament. He was the worst on show in the worst first half of the Reds' worst Champions League performance in years. Even Juergen Klopp had an off night.
He picked Keita ahead of Thiago Alcantara, relying on his side's tried and tested press, rather than the Spanish midfielder's slower more cerebral approach.
But Keita didn't defend, didn't instigate anything vaguely creative and didn't offer anything to suggest he deserves another shot in a Liverpool fixture of note.
The Guinean's irrelevance allowed a German midfielder's slower, more cerebral approach to take charge. Toni Kroos passed his way through Liverpool and exposed his opponents' worrying shortcomings.
In the next few weeks, the Reds must prepare for Aston Villa, Leeds United and Newcastle United. Realistically, all three fixtures should be won to maintain hopes of finishing in the English Premier League top four. Luckily, none of them boast the ageless grace of Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric.
Still, Real's dominance has to concern Klopp and his weary players. Fatigue was a factor, but not a justification to succumb so meekly to a midfield trio with a combined age of 95.
MIDFIELD MUDDLE
Fabinho saw more balls pass by than a Wimbledon spectator and Georginio Wijnaldum's boots seemed to be dipped in concrete.
Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold only supported Gary Neville's recent assertion that elite sides target the right-back to expose his defensive frailties.
Apart from his misplaced header that led to a goal, Alexander-Arnold was overwhelmed in the first half. Kroos tortured him.
The 22-year-old has lost his England place. His Liverpool place may be next if the poor man doesn't rediscover his confidence soon. His talent is obvious, but so are the gaps between him and Nathaniel Phillips.
Even Alisson had a wobble between the sticks, conceding a soft third goal. Everyone appears to be running on empty, except for Salah.
His performance wasn't particularly memorable. But he was quietly adequate in an inadequate team, a familiar narrative of late.
Salah's goal was a tap-in, certainly, but one engineered through dogged hustling.
In fact, he ran down one blind alley after another, waiting for passes that never came. But he refused to relent.
If Keita's peripheral wandering summed up Liverpool's performance, then Salah's tenacity summed up his season.
His goal was not only his first against Real Madrid - after four games against the Spaniards - it was also his 27th of the season in all competitions. Barring an unforeseen crisis, Salah will break the 30-goal barrier in the toughest circumstances, playing for a jaded, injury-hit team in empty stadiums.
Despite Liverpool's tribulations, he continues to deliver. When the ball was spilled in a crowded Real box, he was always going to be there.
Since making his Liverpool debut, he has scored 121 goals in all competitions, putting him ahead of everyone in Europe's top five leagues, except Cristiano Ronaldo (140), Lionel Messi (156) and Robert Lewandowski (177).
He's the only one that Real Madrid couldn't stop. Even with Salah, Liverpool's odds of salvaging the Champions League tie - as well as finishing in the EPL top four - are slender.
But they have no chance without him.
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