When Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool, he was joining a team with a fantastic history but little in the way of recent success.

The last time Liverpool won a major trophy was the 2005/06 FA Cup and the fans have been starved of a trophy to celebrate while the teams around them have gone on to taste success in the Premier League and in Europe.

Photo courtesy of Дмитрий Голубович

However, thanks in no small part to the performance of Salah this season, Liverpool are on the brink of reaching the Champions League final this season and there is just one more hurdle in their way, a trip to Rome.

Salah Back in Rome

This will bring back good memories for Salah, who enjoyed his spell in the Italian capital and refused to celebrate when he scored two goals in the first leg at Anfield last week.  It remains to be seen what sort of welcome Salah receives at the Stadio Olimpico but with a very passionate atmosphere in favour of the home team, there will be little time for sentiment from the Roma ultras.

Salah has spoken about his two seasons in Rome and he told Premier League Productions, “I played for Roma for two years, I had a great time with the club, with the fans, I fought for the club and now I have to play against them. “We text each other, as players, every week – we’re still good friends.”

However, despite having a great time with the fans during his spell in Roma colours, the fans may not be in such a welcoming mood for his return on Wednesday night.  

“I’m very excited to go there and I love the fans,” said Salah, before continuing, “They love me, [there are] more emotions.”

Whatever reception Salah receives, the atmosphere for the game will no doubt be tremendous in the Stadio Olimpico. Having defeated Barcelona 3-0 in the quarter-final and won their Serie A match 4-1 on the weekend, the Roma team have proved they are capable of getting results that are good enough to see Roma go through.

Disappointing Performance

Both Liverpool and Salah had disappointing performances on the weekend in the home Premier League game against Stoke City.  Salah missed a glaring opportunity to open the scoring early in the game and will need to put that behind him ahead of Liverpool’s biggest match of the season.

Just one goal from Salah at the home of his former club could be enough to see him and Liverpool into the Champions League final, and the form the Egyptian Prince is in, you wouldn’t bet against it.

Author: Jacob Maslow