Mohamed Salah contract preference clear after team-mate reaction

Mohamed Salah contract preference clear after Liverpool team-mate reaction

Mohamed Salah celebrated Liverpool's opening goal vs Lille with team-mate Curtis Jones

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The Liverpool duo couldn’t have timed it any better. And, in doing so, they helped Arne Slot’s side secure their place in the Champions League knockout stage at the earliest possible opportunity.

Eyebrows were raised earlier this week when Curtis Jones, speaking in characteristically honest fashion, declared Eden Hazard was, at his peak, a better footballer than Mohamed Salah.

The Reds midfielder swiftly clarified he would most certainly rather have Salah as a team-mate. And that was underlined 11 minutes before half-time on a chilly evening at home to Lille - the club where Hazard began his career - to light up a previously dormant encounter.

After Kostas Tsimikas fairly robbed Jonathan David of possession inside the Liverpool half, the ball went from Ryan Gravenberch to the feet of Jones who, spotting Salah making a sprint forward from the halfway line, played a superb pass to release the Egyptian to coolly carry possession on and finish into the top corner.

Salah promptly plonked himself down in trademark fashion on an Anfield Road Stand advertising hoarding with arms outstretched before being joined by Jones, who took a seat next to his colleague before pointedly gesturing towards the Anfield turf. As the forward’s contract impasse continues, it’s clear where the Egyptian’s team-mates would prefer him to be playing regularly next season.

For Salah, it signalled the end of a goal drought having had the temerity to not to score in a full three games. Moving him on to 22 for the season, it was also his 50th in European competition for Liverpool.

Jones, though, saw his night ended prematurely when he suffered a knock towards half-time and failed to appear for the second half.

It says much about Liverpool’s domination of the new-look Champions League opening stage – this a seventh win out seven – meant this will be regarded another routine win in a campaign that continues to deliver such encouragement.

But it cannot be ignored that Lille, who had earlier beaten both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, were unbeaten in all competitions since September. They have been a tough nut to crack.

Barcelona’s dramatic 5-4 win at Benfica means there is still work to be done by Slot’s side at his former Dutch rivals PSV Eindhoven next week in order to secure top spot. Few, though, could have anticipated just how Liverpool have embraced their return to Europe’s top tier.

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