Mo Salah continues remarkable goalscoring tradition with Trabzonspor brace

Some things never change.

It was an eventful opening matchday for Liverpool in the new Premier League season, but more than 2,700 miles away, something quite fitting was happening with one of their most-loved former players.

The Liverpool faithful had got pretty used to seeing Mohamed Salah score in their season-opening games since his 2017 arrival.

It happened on his debut. And again in 2018. And again in 2019. Then in 2020, it was a hat trick.

One more opening-day goal in 2021. And another in 2022. Not in 2023, but back to business as usual in 2024 and 2025.

Salah is the only player in Premier League history with 10 goals to his name across opening-day fixtures, ranking above the likes of Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Jamie Vardy with eight.

After his emotional exit from Liverpool in the summer, he won’t be extending that record. But there was a fateful nod to his Liverpool achievements whilst he was playing for Trabzonspor on Sunday.

Salah had drawn a blank from his first two appearances for his new club. His debut against Kasimpasa was as a substitute, in fairness, but he got the whole 90 minutes against Ferencvaros in Europa League qualifying on Thursday.

Eight minutes into his first Turkish Super Lig start on Sunday, against Istanbul Basaksehir, and his account was open.

It was a scruffy goal. Near the six-yard box, Salah picked up a loose ball after a spillage by the keeper and shot on the turn. It hit the post and inched over the line, with a defender trying to clear it but the ball having just crossed.

The opening day of Liverpool’s season and Salah was scoring again. Just for a different team.

He later backed it up with a second goal that was more from his usual textbook. After playing a one-two with his teammate and finding himself at an angle on the edge of the six-yard box, Salah slotted home from the right with his trusty left foot.

The Egyptian King was then denied a first opening-day hat trick since his treble against Leeds United in 2020.

With the opposition keeper as far away from goal as he was, Salah made no mistake firing the ball in from way out. However, he was flagged offside in a tight call.

It didn’t matter in the end, as Trabzonspor held out for a 2-1 win. It was better than Liverpool managed at Newcastle, needing a late penalty by Dominik Szoboszlai to salvage a 2-2 draw.

Back in the day, it would probably have been Salah taking that shot. Now he’s on his next chapter, though, and Liverpool can only hope they don’t regret saying goodbye to him a year ahead of schedule.