Not done yet: Mohamed Salah sparkles in Liverpool’s FA Cup win

LIVERPOOL — It is a sight the Anfield crowd will never grow tired of. For almost nine years, it has been something of a matchday custom for Mohamed Salah to salute the Kop after dispatching a decisive Liverpool goal — and so it proved again on Saturday night as the Egypt international helped Arne Slot’s side to an impressive FA Cup fourth round victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

In the pantheon of Salah’s extraordinary Liverpool seasons, 2025-26 has so far looked on course to be little more than a footnote, with the forward’s most memorable contribution coming with his explosive outburst following the 3-3 draw with Leeds United back in December.

At the time, his incendiary interview — in which he took aim at both Slot and the club hierarchy — looked like they could spell an unseemly end to an extraordinary Anfield career. Against Brighton, however, Salah’s display was that of a man who appears to have shelved his own personal frustrations for the greater good of the team.

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It is a decision that may yet prove vital to ensuring this campaign ends up being a successful one for Liverpool. And while it is impossible to deny that Father Time is starting to catch up to him, Salah’s latest showing proved that he is still capable of shining — even if he has now assumed more of a supporting role.

On Saturday, Salah assisted Dominik Szoboszlai before winning and scoring a penalty to secure the Reds’ passage to the fifth round. Across all competitions, is the 15th time he has both scored and assisted in a single game for Liverpool since the start of last season; nine more times than any other Premier League player during this period (Bukayo Saka and Erling Haaland have done it six times each).

His beautifully weighted pass for Szoboszlai means only Bruno Fernandes has more assists for Premier League clubs in all competitions since mid-December (four), despite Salah missing more than a month of action due to his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Not bad for a man whose decline has been much heralded this season.

Against Brighton, Salah was one of several impressive Liverpool performers as Slot’s slide managed to recapture the scintillating form that has evaded them for much of this season. At left back, Milos Kerkez continued his revival, with the Hungary international now playing with the grit and guile that compelled Liverpool to sign him for £45 million from AFC Bournemouth last summer.

The defender’s standout moment came when he brilliantly teed up Curtis Jones to open the scoring shortly before half-time. Jones, deputising at right back due to the Reds’ ongoing injury crisis, deftly tapped home from close range to cap an accomplished performance that showed why Internazionale were so keen to sign him in the January transfer window — and why Liverpool are so keen to extend his contract beyond the summer of 2027.

It was in the second half, though, that the hosts really turned on the style, with Szoboszlai’s excellent finish rounding off a stunning team move that was reminiscent of Liverpool at their best last term under Slot. The goal was Szoboszlai’s 10th of the campaign and the midfielder now looks well on course to surpass his 2019-20 tally for most goals in a single campaign (12 for RB Salzburg).

Liverpool’s dominance was then compounded when Salah danced past three Brighton defenders before being upended in the box by Pascal Groß. The forward made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick and when — later in the second half — Salah was replaced by the prodigious Rio Ngumoha, he received a deserved standing ovation from his adoring public.

“It is very nice to have him on the scoresheet again and him having an assist,” Slot said of Salah in his post-match news conference. “But what I like the most at the moment is him scoring goals is something you can almost expect, but he also helps the team a lot defensively and that is something very positive.

“What the team also needs — and I think more and more players are now capable of — is playing every three days at this intensity level and that is where we struggled at the start of the season. Now we’re able to do so, we see more and more the quality we are having and that is why I have said so many times the future looks really bright for this club.”

Whether Salah will be part of that bright future long-term remains to be seen. The forward’s current deal runs until the end of next season, though there will no doubt be interested parties looking to see if a deal can be done this summer. At the full-time whistle on Saturday, Salah did a lap around the pitch while his song — to the tune of “Sit Down” by James — belted out from the stadium’s speakers.

It was a fitting end to a positive evening for Liverpool. On the evidence of his latest display, Salah still might have a few more chapters to write before he takes his final Anfield bow.