Mohamed Salah: Liverpool title win an ‘unbelievable feeling’ after shedding tears when 2018/19 hopes slipped away
Written by News on 04/07/2020
“Winning the Premier League after a long time – and after winning the Champions League last year – it’s unbelievable!”
Mohamed Salah couldn’t hide his delight at Liverpool’s title triumph when he sat down with Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher ahead of the Reds’ clash with Manchester City on Thursday night.
That fixture at the Etihad could have been a fitting way for Liverpool to clinch the crown, giving Jurgen Klopp’s side the potential to defeat the defending champions on their own patch to underline Liverpool’s dominance in the title race this season.
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But Salah says City’s defeat at Chelsea last Thursday instead allowed him and his Liverpool team-mates a special opportunity to celebrate together.
“I think everyone was excited to watch the game [Chelsea vs Man City] together,” he said. “Some players wanted to win against Man City and win the Premier League there and some players said ‘no, let’s win it now and celebrate together’.
“It was an unbelievable feeling, when Chelsea scored the second one, it was like ‘wow’, it was a party. We tried to keep the distance but it doesn’t work sometimes but we did our best.”
Just as Liverpool’s Champions League final victory over Tottenham last June allowed them to put to bed the pain of losing to Real Madrid in the previous year’s showpiece, this season’s Premier League win is all the sweeter for how agonisingly close they came in 2018/19.
The Egyptian reflected with Carragher on how last season’s low moments of realisation Liverpool would miss out to City – and by just one point in the end – have been replaced by significant wins which had the players believing this – finally – would be their year.
“I do remember last year the game against Manchester United away, when we drew [in February], and I went to the dressing room, I put a towel over my head and I started to cry because that’s the moment I felt like we had lost the Premier League,” Salah said
“I think after that game, Man City stepped into first place then I was like ‘it’s going to be tough now because there are only a few games left’ and you have to wait for them to draw games or something.
“When I look back to that, it’s like ‘great, wow’, it’s unbelievable to win it this season after last season because we lost it with one point. It’s crazy to lose the Premier League with one point difference, it’s unbelievable.
“I think the first time we felt [a big moment towards winning the league] was when we beat Man City here [at Anfield].
“We said ‘OK, now we’ll go for it’. Then I think a few games as well, like Leicester City here when we won in the last minute, we knew mentally ‘OK, this is our season now’.
“Last season, we didn’t have that luck. This season we had it – because you still need the luck anyway – so that moment felt like it was our season so let’s go for it.”
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(c) Sky Sports 2020: Mohamed Salah: Liverpool title win an ‘unbelievable feeling’ after shedding tears when 2018/19 hopes slipped away
