London: Mohammad Salah was crowned the Premier League’s Players’ Player of the Year on Sunday, with his incredible 41-goal debut season at Liverpool beating out strong competition from Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne.
“It’s a big honour. I’ve worked hard and I’m very happy to win it,” Salah said at the ceremony on Sunday evening.
Playing for Liverpool special: Salah
Salah matched a Premier League record tally for a single season by scoring his 31st league goal of the campaign in a 2-2 draw at West Brom on Saturday.
“You’re comparing your name with some great names,” he said, on the prospect of breaking the record. “To break the Premier League record is something huge in England and all over in the world.
“There are still three games to go. I want to break this record.”
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Salah has also netted seven times in eight Champions League games, including in both legs of Liverpool’s 5-1 quarter-final thrashing of City, to carry his side to a first semi-final for a decade.
De Bruyne showed why he had been many people’s early-season favourite for the prize with an incredible long-range strike for his 12th goal of the season to go with a league-high number of assists as champions City thrashed Swansea 5-0 on Sunday.
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“From my point of view when you are analysing 10 months, there is no player better than him,” said City manager Pep Guardiola of the Belgian midfielder.
“Maybe there are numbers better but for me he was the best. But it is my opinion, the opinions of the players could be different. But in the end, in summer time he will be at home being champion.”
City did pick up a prize from the PFA gala in central London on Sunday, though, as Leroy Sane won the Young Player of the Year.
Sane, another City team-mate David Silva, De Bruyne, Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea and Tottenham striker Harry Kane were the other five nominees for the main prize.
SALAH'S BIO
Name: Mohammad Salah Ghaly
Birthday: June 15, 1992
Positions: He plays for English club Liverpool and the Egypt national team as a forward.
Career: Salah started his senior career with hometown club El Mokawloon in the Egyptian Premier League in 2010, departing shortly thereafter to join Basel for an undisclosed fee.
In Switzerland, he starred as he won the league title in his debut season, winning the SAFP Golden Player Award in the process.
Salah's performances then attracted Premier League side Chelsea, and subsequently signed for the team for a £11 million fee in 2014.
Although he again tasted league glory in his debut season, he was used sparingly by the club, and was allowed to depart on loan to Serie A clubs Fiorentina and Roma, with the latter eventually signing him permanently for €15 million.
Move to Liverpool: Following consistent match-winning performances in Rome to lead them to second-placed finish and a record points-tally in 2017, Salah relocated back to the Premier League to sign for Liverpool for a then club-record fee of £36.9 million.
During his second spell in England, Salah adapted his game from a natural winger to a complete forward, and quickly became the focal point of the team.
He would go onto break the club's scoring record for a debut season, as well as becoming the first player ever to win three Premier League Player of the Month awards in the same season and was named in the 2017–18 PFA Team of the Year.
International level: Salah represented Egypt at youth level, winning a bronze medal in the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, and participated in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics.
He was awarded the CAF Most Promising African Talent of the Year in 2012.
Making his debut with the senior national team in 2011, he helped Egypt reach the final of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, and he became the top scorer during CAF qualification to help the team qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
For his performances, Salah was named CAF African Footballer of the Year and the BBC African Footballer of the Year. He was also selected in the CAF Team of the Year and Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament.
Salah's shining moments in Egypt
They’re often referred to as “Salah’s Egypt,” and it’s easy to see why.
Liverpool forward Mohammad Salah has scored five of Egypt’s seven goals in World Cup qualifying, but none so crucial as his injury time penalty in October that earned the Pharaohs a spot at the upcoming World Cup in Russia.
“I thank you Mohammad,” President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi said in a televised ceremony with the national team. “I thank you all, of course, but Mohammad was under a great deal of pressure from 100 million Egyptians. He had to convert for us to win.”
Happy
Salah, 25, gave his team the lead against Congo in the 63rd minute, but after the visitors equalised just before the end of regulation, it was Salah that produced Egypt’s 2-1 victory.
Had the match ended in a 1-1 draw, Egypt would have faced the formidable task of beating Ghana away.
Instead, Salah helped Egypt head back to the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
He has for years been a favourite with fans in soccer-crazed Egypt, but his two goals against Congo in October have elevated him to a national hero.
To fans, he almost single-handedly ended the grief and frustration millions of Egyptians endured every time they came so agonisingly close to qualifying for the World Cup only to falter at the last hurdle.
Fans took to social media to post collages of Salah dressed as a king and others devised a play on words for “Sabah El Kheir,” Arabic for good morning, by changing it to “Salah El Kheir.”
On Facebook, fans wrote: “Salah for president.”
Salah is one of a crop of young Egyptian players earning a living with European clubs, including three others in the Premier League.
But Salah is by far the most popular, partially because he is a goal scorer, but mostly because of his passion and dedication.
Back in October, Salah fell to his knees in anguish and then laid face down on the ground after Congo equalised.
But he got back on his feet moments later, collected the ball and rallied his teammates. He then turned to the capacity crowd of 30,000, gesturing to continue rooting for the team.
“May God make you happy Salah just as you made all Egyptians happy,” former Egypt international Hazem Emam, one of the country’s greats, wrote on Twitter.
Happy they were.
The win sent hundreds of thousands of Egyptians celebrating across the country until the early hours of Monday morning. They waved the country’s white, red and black flag, honked cars and yelled “Egypt! Egypt!”
It was a welcome break for a nation that has been roiled in turmoil for most of the six years since a popular uprising, with the vast majority now struggling to make ends meet in the face of soaring prices, higher utility bills and crumbling services and security forces fighting to contain an insurgency by militants.
That turmoil has affected the soccer team, which failed to qualify for three straight African Cups from 2012-15 before making a return this year.
“Did you see what you have done to Egyptians in just over an hour?” Al-Sissi told the squad. “Everyone is happy.”
