Mohammed Salah has set Europe on fire this season. The Egyptian international led Liverpool all the way to the Champion’s League Final and was the clear Premier League Player of the Season. With a record 44 goals and 16 assists, Salah is now firmly in the Balon d’Or conversation. His task in Russia would be to take his God-like form into the tournament and lead a sleeping giant of international football in Egypt.

Salah’s journey to the pinnacle of European football has not been a straight and narrow one, but the little man has always shown the ability to be clutch, to perform whenever he needs to. Let’s take a look at some of the defining clutch moments of Mo Salah’s career thus far.

 

 

Look at me Basel

 

The 2012 Egyptian Port Said Stadium disaster was one of the most devastating events in world football leaving 74 people dead and over 500 injured. The tragedy resulted in the suspension of the Egyptian Professional Football League. As players were not able to play competitive football the Egyptian FA arranged a friendly with Switzerland giants FC Basel for the Egyptian U23 team who were preparing for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. There had already been some interest from Basel in Salah who had been performing well in a very strong Egyptian league. Salah didn’t start the game against Swiss team, so he only had a limited time to impress. As a second-half sub, Salah ran rings around the Basel defenders scoring a double in an eventual 4-3 win for the Egyptians. Immediately after the game, Basel ignited their interest in the African talent eventually signing him, giving Salah his first European move.

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The Olympics

 

Led by the legendary Mohamed Aboutrika as one of their overage players, Egypt participated in the Olympic football tournament for the first time in some 20 years. While all eyes were on the silky skills of Aboutrika, it was Egypt’s newest emerging talent who stole the show. Salah, again when he needed to be, was in blistering form scoring in all three of Egypt’s group stage games leading them all the way to a historic quarterfinal run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hitting the Ground Running

 

Salah needed no time to adjust to football in Switzerland, scoring on his debut for Basel in a non-competitive friendly against Romanian side Steaua Bucharest. In his first league game for the Swiss team he made an assist and just a week later he scored a goal and an assist, Basel knew they had something special on their hands. Salah finished his first season with Basel as a Swiss Super League champion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Europe taking notice

 

Promising performances in the Swiss League was one thing but could he do this on the European stage? The obstacle this time was the Europa League quarterfinal against London-based Tottenham Hotspur. Salah scored a goal in the tie and Spurs crashed out of the tournament. In the following semifinal, Salah will come up against Chelsea, a team who will quickly become familiar with his rare talent. Salah scored against Chelsea in Stanford Bridge, and despite Basel losing 5-2 aggregate Europe got a glimpse of a truly unique player.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea just could not resist

 

The following season both Chelsea and Basel were drawn in the same Champions League group. Salah and Basel had the perfect opportunity to redress their semifinal loss to Chelsea in the previous season. Salah again, when his team needed, was simply irresistible scoring both home and away as Basel beat the Jose Mourinho-led team in both group stage encounters. These performances were now too much to resist and Chelsea signed Salah in the very next window for a fee around 11 million pounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciao, Italia

 

The timing of Salah’s arrival to Chelsea was not entirely the best. He was, because of his participation with Basel cup-tied for Chelsea’s remaining Champions League games. This coupled with his mid-season January arrival meant that the timing was just a bit off for Salah. However, he managed to finish the season strong starting the last six of Chelsea’s Premier League games. The following season although in and around the squad he failed to break into a Chelsea team that would go on to win the Premier League title. Fiorentina noticed this and offered to bring the Egyptian to Italy for some much-needed game time. Again an opportunity presented itself and again the man with the clutch took it with both hands. In just half the season Salah scored 9 goals and 6 assist for the Viola, propelling them into the Europa League and the Coppa Italia semifinals. With these performances, Roma, as Fiorentina fans would tell, stole Salah from under the Florance club's noses. In Rome Salah was again exceptional. For the capital club, Salah finished his first Roma season as the club's top goal scorer and its Payer of the Season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Merseyside Legend

 

Salah would go on to play one more season in Rome before Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool came calling in what is now one of the greatest transfers of all time. Salah’s first season in Liverpool has been out of this world. With Salah, Liverpool now finds itself in a Champions League Final. Individually he has gone on be the Premier Leagues top goal scorer, scoring the most goals ever in a 38 game season and he has won the Player of the month more times than any other player in a single season. If this was not enough, Salah was named the PFA Footballer of the Year, The FWA Footballer of the Year and the Liverpool Players’ Player of the Year, unanimously sweeping all possible individual awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For His Country

 

It’s the 95th minute in a crucial world cup qualifier match, Egypt is tied 1-1 with Congo, only a win will confirm qualification, Egypt is given a penalty, in front of a packed stadium in Cairo. Who else would you trust to grab this opportunity? Who else can be this clutch? Of course, Mo Salah and of course he steps up, scores sending his country into delirium.

 

Salah and Egypt will be going to the World Cup for the first time since 1990. There is no doubt Salah will again be ready step up to the occasion.

 

Enjoy!