MOHAMED SALAH SAYS he is targeting a perfect summer, starting with Champions League glory with Liverpool this weekend.
The Egyptian star is out for redemption after seeing his dreams ruined in Kiev last year. Salah’s injury in the first-half of the Reds’ final defeat to Real Madrid 12 months ago was a devastating blow, both for the player and his team.
A year on, the 26-year-old is hoping for better memories as Liverpool take on Tottenham at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. Jurgen Klopp’s side are favourites heading into the game, and Salah is targeting not only victory, but a goal or two for himself too.
“It’s not just a dream,” he said at Liverpool’s media day at Melwood on Tuesday. “I hope it becomes a reality and I score in the final, then win the African Cup of Nations too.
I am so happy that I have the chance to play another final. I hope I can play the full game this time. I am very excited for that. I hope we can right what happened last season, get a good result, and win the competition.”
Salah believes the fact it is Tottenham who stand in Liverpool’s way adds an extra challenge. Spurs, like the Reds, had looked dead and buried in their semi-final but fought back remarkably to beat Ajax with a last-gasp goal.
“I think it will be tough,” Salah said. “But by the end of the day, this is a final and no opponent would have been easy. It would be the same if it were Ajax, a team that beat Real Madrid and Juventus.
But now we only think about Tottenham. It is harder because it is an English side, but anyway we needed to win whether it was against Ajax or Spurs. And that is the most important thing we want to do.
“I don’t think [being favourites] will change much. All we have to do is stay focused on the game to win. Who is favourite and who isn’t will not change what you have to do on the pitch. It could give us a bit of a boost, but it won’t be the main reason why a side wins a game.”
Liverpool are expected to welcome back Roberto Firmino for the game, with the Brazilian having failed to start any of their last five games due to a groin issue.
Firmino trained away from the main group at Melwood on Tuesday, but Jurgen Klopp expects the striker to be fit to start in Madrid – something Salah will welcome.
“He is very important for us and helps us so much in all our games,” he said. “I’m so glad that he’s back, especially for him personally. I hope he can help us again to achieve something good.
We are very excited. Of course this is our second final in a row. We lost the first, but everything feels better this time around and we have more experience than the last time.
“We are all looking forward and we had a good preparation period in Spain. We are back in Liverpool, and we are feeling very motivated as players and coaching staff. I hope we can win it this time.”
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