By Betsefy
Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah will be out to end his worst-ever scoreless run in the Champions League when the Reds tackle Ajax on Tuesday in Group A.
After ending the 2021-22 season with 31 goals and 16 assists under his belt from 51 appearances in all tournaments, Salah was handed a lucrative new three-year deal by the Reds.
The 30-year-old has managed two goals and two assists in six Premier League outings so far this term, but he has largely struggled to replicate his form from previous years.
Salah was named in the starting lineup for Liverpool’s Champions League opener with Napoli last week, but the Egypt international was powerless to stop his side from suffering a 4-1 defeat.
Luis Diaz scored Liverpool’s only goal on the 49-minute mark, and Salah was hooked with just over an hour on the clock at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
© Reuters
Having failed to find the back of the net against Luciano Spalletti‘s side, Salah’s barren run without a goal in the Champions League now stands at seven matches.
Prior to 2022, Salah’s worst run in the Champions League was a six-game drought without a goal between 2013 and 2015, during which time he swapped Chelsea for Roma.
Salah ended that goalless streak against Bayer Leverkusen in November 2015, but he could now go eight games without finding the back of the net in Europe’s elite competition.
The ex-Chelsea man most recently made the net ripple in the Champions League in last season’s last-16 first-leg win over Inter Milan, and he only contributed two further assists against Villarreal before the final defeat to Real Madrid.
All in all, Salah has 36 goals and 13 assists to boast from 72 games in the Champions League for Basel, Chelsea, Roma and Liverpool, who are out to avoid an unwanted record of their own.
© Reuters
Should the Reds suffer defeat to Alfred Schreuder‘s men this week, it will mark the first time ever that they have opened a Champions League campaign with back-to-back defeats.
Speaking at his pre-game press conference on Monday, Klopp admitted that the 4-1 loss to Napoli was the “worst” out of the 389 games he has taken charge of for Liverpool since 2015.
“We had a meeting with the players – I have watched the Napoli game back many times – it was a real horror show,” the 55-year-old told the press.
“It was the worst game we’ve played since I’ve been here. You have to understand why that happened. Eight out of 11 were absolutely below their level, the rest not on their top level, just a normal game. We have to follow a common idea again.”
Liverpool were due to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League at the weekend, but domestic fixtures in the United Kingdom were postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
