Sunday, May 24, 2026

Mo Salah ends Liverpool chapter: All Hail to the Egyptian King

In his final moment, in his final game as a forward for Liverpool at Anfield, Mohamed Salah — commonly known as the Egyptian King — prostrated himself, performing a Sujood to thank Allah, the Almighty, the King of Kings, before thousands inside the stadium and millions watching via television and platforms around the globe.

Sujood is the closest a Muslim can be to his Creator.

Prostrating to thank God at the peak of your success is a sign of extreme humility and gratitude — a declaration that you have not forgotten who helped you get there.

For me and other Egyptians  — we understood exactly what Salah felt in that moment: teary-eyed, with Anfield rocking around him.

It was a truly epic moment, a fitting close to a great chapter in Egyptian, British, and world football by any measure.

Needless to say, there were other unforgettable moments in a match that was, frankly, a welcome escape for me and many others from Trump's ongoing mad show in the Middle East.

In his final appearance for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah broke Steven Gerrard's record for the most assists in Premier League history for the club.

His 93rd assist came against Brentford — a significant milestone as he surpassed Gerrard's long-standing mark of 92.

It was not only a testament to Salah's exceptional talent but a fitting final entry in a record book he has filled across Liverpool and Europe alike.

I still cannot believe the numbers, mashallah — for real.

In a dramatic Champions League clash against Atlético Madrid, he became the only player in UCL history to both score and assist within the opening six minutes of a match for an English club.

He became the first Liverpool player in history to score 20 or more goals in eight consecutive campaigns.

Salah ends his Liverpool career with 48 Champions League goals, comfortably surpassing Gerrard's previous club record of 30 — and stands as the most prolific African and Arab footballer in the competition's history.

He also overtook Jamie Carragher's long-standing record of 80 European appearances, finishing as Liverpool's ultimate veteran in the elite competition. No wonder Carragher could never quite bring himself to love him.

In 2022 against Rangers, Salah came off the bench to score a blistering hat-trick in just 6 minutes and 12 seconds — the fastest hat-trick ever recorded in Champions League history.

In the Premier League, Salah sits fourth on the all-time scorers list, having overtaken Sergio Agüero in April 2025. Only Wayne Rooney (208), Harry Kane (213), and Alan Shearer (260) have scored more — and he is the most prolific non-British goalscorer the competition has ever seen.

He became the first player in Premier League history to win the Golden Boot, the Playmaker award, and the EA Sports Player of the Season in a single campaign. He also became the first player to score 25 goals and register 15 assists in one season.

He hit the ground running like no one before him, bagging 44 goals across all competitions in his stunning 2017–18 debut year at the club.

With nine major trophies at Anfield — including two Premier League titles and a Champions League crown — Salah departs third on Liverpool's all-time top goalscorers list.

The other moments I loved from Sunday's game

I love how tiny Kayan Salah became the third member of the Salah family to score at Anfield.

I love how pre-teen Mecca reached for her lip gloss mid-ceremony — hydrating in style.


The girl we watched grow up before our eyes was there beside her dad, helping him collect banners from the fans.

I love how Salah spotted veteran Egyptian footballer and former Zamalek player Haitham Farouk in the crowd and warmly welcomed him.

I love how he did not forget Robertson — Robbo — in all the farewell chaos.

And for the record: this is not the end of Mohamed Salah's career as a footballer, whatever people are claiming. He still has a couple of good years left, and Messi and Ronaldo are proof of that — even if both of them, frankly, should have called it a day by now.

As for where he is going, nobody knows yet. The Saudis were ready to pay a fortune, but the war in the Gulf disrupted their plans. There are rumours about Turkey, and in the past 24 hours, fresh rumours have emerged linking him to a return to Italy — Milan specifically — though nothing is confirmed.

It is also unclear whether he will make an announcement now or wait until after Egypt's friendly matches ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off in just 18 days.

Beyond his playing days, Mo Salah has a great deal to offer as a future coach. 

He could be Egypt's own Pep Guardiola, inshallah — and I genuinely pray he takes that path.

In a strange coincidence, Guardiola also bid farewell to Manchester City on Sunday.

For many of us, it felt like a natural ending. Pep has been more outspoken in support of Palestine and Sudan than almost any active coach in world football — all while working for, in one of football's great ironies, an Emirati-owned club headed by Mansour Bin Zayed, who is explicitly accused of direct complicity in the Sudanese genocide.

Some of us also wonder whether politics played a role in Salah leaving Liverpool before his contract was due to expire in 2027. Many suspect that his famous tweet to UEFA in August 2025 — asking who killed Suleiman al-Obeid, the so-called "Palestinian Pelé," and why — may have been the final straw.

Suleiman al-Obeid, 41, was one of Palestinian football's greatest players. Known as the "Palestinian Pelé," he scored more than 100 goals across his career, earned 24 caps for the Palestinian national team, and was one of the brightest stars the country's football had ever produced.

His life ended as it did for so many in Gaza — killed while waiting to collect humanitarian aid for his family at a distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza. His widow, Doaa, later told MEE that even through the war, the rockets, and the shelling, he had never stopped training — not a single day.

When UEFA posted its tribute on X — "Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the Palestinian Pelé. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times" — it made no mention whatsoever of how or where he had died.

Salah responded with just three questions: "Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?" The remark gained more than 840,000 likes and sent shockwaves through world football.

Gary Lineker echoed the sentiment on Instagram, writing "We can't hear you, UEFA,"

Days later, at the UEFA Super Cup between PSG and Tottenham in Udine, UEFA displayed a banner reading "Stop Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians" before the match — widely seen as a direct response to the mounting criticism Salah's post had helped unleash.

The UEFA Foundation for Children also announced it was expanding its humanitarian efforts to help children in Gaza. Three questions. That is all it took from the Egyptian King to move one of the most powerful institutions in world sport.

But it did not pass without fury from the Israeli government and its supporters — who found themselves in an uncomfortable position, because they simply could not go after Salah publicly. The man has a remarkable sporting record and, just as remarkably, not a single genuine skeleton in his closet. He does not drink. He is faithful to his wife and family. He is not arrogant. He is, in every sense, the good Muslim neighbour the West always claims it wants.

But we know that they will go after Salah just like Lineker.

Lineker had already been suspended by the BBC in 2023 for daring to criticise the UK government's refugee policy. He then spent years speaking out on Gaza, signed open letters, and was eventually forced out of the BBC entirely in May 2025 — losing his 26-year career and his 2026 World Cup presenting role — after inadvertently sharing a pro-Palestine post that contained an antisemitic image he says he genuinely did not notice. He apologised. It made no difference. The machine had what it needed.

Salah was quieter, more careful, more measured.

What we did not anticipate was how soon — and how cruelly timed, given that Liverpool, frankly, are desperately in need of him right now.

Salah was never a loud political player, and he took real criticism for it across Egypt and the Arab world, particularly during the Gaza genocide. Yet, almost by accident, he had already done something remarkable: he changed how millions of British people perceived Muslims.

The "Mo Salah effect" comes from a Stanford University study showing that his success at Liverpool led to Liverpool fans halving their rate of anti-Muslim tweets compared to fans of other Premier League clubs — a drop from 7.2% to 3.4% — while hate crimes in the Liverpool area fell by 18.9% relative to what researchers predicted.

By excelling at the highest level while openly and proudly practising his faith, Salah humanised the Muslim community for a vast mainstream British audience.

Maggi Salah played her own quiet role in this, too. 

As a veiled Muslim woman in the public eye — a WAG unlike any British or European football fan had seen before — she dismantled two stereotypes at once: the tabloid WAG, and the so-called oppressed Muslim woman.

And now Salah is leaving the UK precisely as the Islamophobic, xenophobic far right — Tommy Robinson and company — is louder than it has been in years.

It feels like the end of a golden, diverse era in one of the most compelling football leagues in the world.

P.S. — I am originally a Manchester United fan. It is historically fitting: the Red Devils of Cairo support the Red Devils of England, and besides, it is United. But for family reasons over the past two years, I supported Liverpool — for Salah alone. I now understand exactly how Zamalek fans felt during that decade when Mohamed Abu Trika, one of Salah's godfathers and closest friends in Egypt, was lighting up Al-Ahly. They called it the black decade. I get it now.

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