Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has admitted his career could take him to the shores of Spain at some point. The Egyptian speedster, contracted to the Premier League champions until 2023, has been often linked with La Liga supremos Barcelona and Real Madrid, clubs he described as “great” last year. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp quickly played down talks of a potential transfer on the back of resulting rumors. But, with his side set to face Real in the quarter-final of the Champions League – the first leg on April 6 and the second on April 14 – Salah has hinted that he could someday ply his trade in the Primera Division. The teams will meet for the first time since the 2018 Champions League final, which Madrid won 3-1 in Kyiv, and the Reds will hope to get by them this time around. In the meantime, Salah has refused to rule out a move to Spain in an interview with Spanish publication Marca.
“I hope to be able to play for many more years. Why not? No one knows what’s going to happen in the future, so… maybe one day, yes,” he said. “I hope to be doing the same thing that I’ve been doing in recent years. Winning trophies, scoring goals, helping my team win trophies…
“That’s the most important thing for me.”
Real Madrid are the favorites for the win in next month’s clash, with the bookies having offered odds of 6/4 on the first leg of the tie. Liverpool are 17/10 on that front and you could snag odds of 1/1 on Salah scoring anytime during the contest. Back in January, Salah declared his intention to remain with Liverpool and to continue breaking records, as well as win trophies. Asked about his future with the English club, he replied: “It’s not up to me. We’ll see what happens, but I prefer not to talk about that now.”
As for Premier League form, the Reds have very little chance of successfully defending their title. The Anfield side sit in seventh place on the league table, 25 points adrift of leaders Manchester City with nine games left to play in the top flight. Salah views the Champions League as an avenue for redemption, however.”Lots of things happened at once. Luck hasn’t been on our side,” he said. “It’s made us want to win the Champions League even more and I hope we can do it.”
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The Premier League title is, of course, notoriously difficult to defend and Liverpool’s campaign looks set to join a few other league failures that have followed successful seasons.On another note, there could be a bit of an issue when the Olympic Games come around this Summer as Egypt remains keen on selecting Salah. With the new Premier League season set to begin on August 14, Liverpool could be affected should their key man be called up for duty by his country. Salah, currently on international duty with Egypt, reckons everyone involved will be in agreement with whatever transpires. “Whatever happens, everyone will be in agreement – including my club,” he vowed. It’s also been suggested that the player’s relationship with Jurgen Klopp has deteriorated following his description after being prompted by Marca. Salah claimed to have a normal, professional relationship with Klopp and, while the comment is hardly a negative one, it does pale in comparison to his take on Real manager Zinedine Zidane.”He is a great coach, he has won three Champions (Leagues), he is doing very well with the team. He left and came back to help the team win titles again,” he said with regard to the French coach. “He was one of my idols when I was little. As a coach, he is doing great.”
Salah also spoke about the shoulder injury he suffered during the 2018 final. The 28-year-old was the victim of a hefty challenge from Sergio Ramos that appeared to have been part of a deliberate ploy to force him out of the game. The injury left Salah sidelined for several months. While he claims to no longer think about the incident, Salah told Marca he’s especially motivated to dump Madrid out of the competition. “Let’s just say that I have special motivation to win the tie and go through to the semi-finals,” he revealed. “What’s going to happen now isn’t going to change the result of the final in Kyiv. That’s in the past. That game is in the past, so I don’t think about it. I’m thinking about the team. Everyone is focused on their team and everyone wants to win. That’s it.”
