The light at the end of the tunnel
“Did he score ?”
“Yes”
“That’s the 31st”
“Yes”
“is that a record ?” She smiled.
Yes Mother, I replied with a hidden smile.
A conversation that never in a million years, I would have imagined taking place on a Saturday night, one day prior to the PFA awards ceremony. Unless aliens abducted my parents and swapped them with two football loving freaks, the above conversation would never take place — maybe they swapped them, it’s still a possibility — the normal tune would be them slacking me off for spending hundreds and hundreds of hours glued to a 34 inch LED TV.
Speaking of 34, 34 goals is the record to beat for the man, the myth, the icon…Mohamed Salah. An Egyptian in the premier league, who would have imagined , not just that, but he’s the top goal scorer. With Kevin De Bruyne’s decline as City had one hand on the title, Salah continued to mesmerize the defences with his fine finishing and smooth shimmys, while that was happening, I was wondering whether my father can name all 20 Premier league clubs this season, 18 was his score. Proud of the old man
Salahmania reached every household in the country, whether you are a football fan or not, he will look for you, he will find you and he will entertain you. His performance this season will be compared to other Premier League greats, an achievement only a few have reached, but what’s more important is that he influenced a whole country, manipulating the four primary chemicals in the brain that affect happiness each time he glided past an opponent to score yet another goal.
Salah’s incredible technical evolution this season, in addition to the assistance he received from his Liverpool teammates, coaches and Juergen Klopp are all major reasons behind his progression. In comparison to his days at AS Roma where his mazy wing runs would cause havoc to the opposition, he has now evolved into a lethal final third player, the whole package as they would say, in terms of directness, invading the space, filling the inner channels, and most importantly his finishing.
On the field he was judge, jury and executioner but also off it, as I would find my father talking about football nonstop, asking questions that were beyond his knowledge as someone who is half interested in the game. More questions resulted in new topics, it was like Christmas day every day of the week, week in week out ! The more the goals, the more interesting it was for me. Considering that I never joined the Salah bandwagon, it’s quite ironical that he added to my football enjoyment in a peculiar way.
As for the PFA Players’ player of the year award, the Egyptian was the worthy winner, and next on the list is the FWA Football of the year award, and who knows maybe the big one if he continued his brilliance in the Champions League and World Cup.
