Mohamed Salah admitted he had “cried more than in my entire life” after his storied Liverpool career came to an end.
He provided the assist for Curtis Jones’ opener and came inches away from adding to his 193 Premier League goals when his free-kick hit a post in the first half.
The Egypt international was given an impromptu guard of honour by his team-mates when he was substituted in the 74th minute of the 1-1 draw with Brentford which guaranteed Champions League football.
Salah kissed the turf one final time before taking his seat on the bench, but it was not until the match had finished he became emotional.
“I think I’ve cried more than in my whole life. I’m not really an emotional guy,” he told Sky Sports as he was interviewed with Andy Robertson, who will also leave after a similar nine-year stay.
“We lived our youth here, sharing everything from the beginning to the end. We put this club back where it belongs.
“It’s tricky to leave Liverpool. It’s life. I look back and wonder if I would have wanted more than I achieved. Not really. We won it all.
“We see the love from the fans and this is the most important thing for me.
“I will be far away from here. I will be emotional every time. I hope the team stays in the position, fighting for everything.”
The narrative of Salah becoming the club’s leading Premier League assist record holder with his 93rd was spoiled somewhat by Kevin Schade’s equaliser.
“Again we didn’t get what we deserved and that is a common theme this season, we deserved to win,” said head coach Arne Slot.
“Although in the 100th minute we could have lost it as they get a serious chance and it didn’t go in.
“We came here today to do the minimum required and when you look at the league table, big clubs are not able to qualify for the Champions League or Europe so we can not take it for granted – but it is clear and obvious we wanted more.
“But I am proud of the players because it has been a very difficult season.”
A win for Brentford would have got them into Europe for the first time in their history, but they came up just short.
“We gave everything to get the result we needed, it wasn’t quite to be,” said boss Keith Andrews.
“There’s immense pride in terms of what we produced, like how much bravery we played with in the second half.”
