Last weekend, Liverpool fans would not have been able to avoid seeing clips of Jurgen Klopp and that trademark beaming grin back on the Anfield touchline for a charity match.
On Saturday, those at the Etihad Stadium will turn their glances left to see another integral member of that era, Klopp’s No 2 Pepijn Lijnders, patrolling the technical area. The Dutchman will be in charge of Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola suspended.
And all being well with the Egyptian King’s fitness, the travelling fans will also be present for the beginning of the end of Mohamed Salah’s time in England, leg one of a farewell tour for the figurehead of a glorious decade where Liverpool became a force once again after too many years as a sleeping giant.
Salah’s upcoming exit is another line in the sand that ends the Klopp era of heavy metal football and Lijnders’s slogan ‘intensity is our identity’.
Of the XI that started the 2019 Champions League final win over Tottenham in Madrid, only two are set to remain next season. Salah will depart and Andy Robertson is out of favour and out of contract in three months. And the two left? Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, who are both only contracted until the end of next season.
Here then is the start of the new era. Led by Arne Slot? That’s to be decided, though the next week will be integral for the under-fire head coach who may retain internal backing, but still needs to win over the trust of many outsiders.
How Mohamed Salah’s farewell tour at Liverpool pans out could also decide the future of Arne Slot as manager
This is a daunting week for Liverpool as they face Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final followed by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League
| Team | Pl | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Aston Villa | 31 | +5 | 54 |
| 5. Liverpool | 31 | +8 | 49 |
| 6. Chelsea | 31 | +15 | 48 |
| 7. Brentford | 31 | +4 | 46 |
| 8. Everton | 31 | +2 | 46 |
| 9. Fulham | 31 | -1 | 44 |
| 10. Brighton | 31 | +4 | 43 |
| 11. Sunderland | 31 | -4 | 43 |
A trip to Manchester in the FA Cup – this season saw City do the league double over Liverpool for the first time since 1937 – followed by a daunting visit to European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Then there are seven crunch league fixtures and none are easy. Fulham have already beaten the Reds this term, then a first Merseyside Derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium would have been tough at the best of times, let alone when Everton are chasing Europe themselves.
After that, Liverpool host a Crystal Palace side who have beaten them in three different competitions this season, before crunch clashes with top-five rivals Manchester United (away), Chelsea (home) and Aston Villa (away). On the final day seventh-placed Brentford, who bullied Liverpool in October, come to Merseyside and may well still be chasing Europe themselves.
The point is this: the time will come to celebrate Salah and debates can rage on in the background about where he ranks in the pantheon of greats in this club’s storied history. But inside the building, none of that should or will matter until after that Brentford game.
Salah and Co will be praying that it won’t end there, of course. However tough their route to the Champions League final – they must overcome PSG and then one of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid – Liverpool will still have eyes on winning a seventh European Cup in Budapest on May 30, six days after Brentford.
There is no time for sentimentality. This run-in will define Liverpool’s future.
Just like how signing Salah, Van Dijk, Alisson, Robertson and Co did for this era, the upcoming transfer window will dictate how the next five to 10 years go. In fairness, so will last summer’s business, when Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak et al get to true form and fitness.
If Liverpool fail to win a trophy, would Slot’s job still be safe? Does the astonishing first season still mean he has enough credit in the bank regardless of the ending of this rather rotten second campaign? How costly would missing out on Champions League qualification be? It could leave a £200million black hole of missed revenue, it is believed – and that is not to mention how it would hold the club back in the transfer market.
If fine margins had gone the other way last season against PSG, Salah could have been the frontrunner to win the Ballon d’Or
Pep Guardiola respects Salah hugely – and he will be wary of the Egyptian hurting his City side again
Salah has scored 13 goals against City – only against Manchester United and Tottenham has he scored more (16 each)
| Man United | 16 goals in 18 games (6 assists) |
| Tottenham | 16 goals in 25 games (5 assists) |
| West Ham | 13 goals in 19 games (7 assists) |
| Man City | 13 goals in 25 games (8 assists) |
| Bournemouth | 12 goals in 14 games (3 assists) |
| Southampton | 11 goals in 13 games (4 assists) |
| Arsenal | 11 goals in 19 games (4 assists) |
| Brighton | 11 goals in 20 games (10 assists) |
It would be against the trend of what Salah has done so often if he was not to have at least one more telling moment in a Liverpool shirt. Despite a poor campaign for his standards – five league goals would be his worst season since he was a 20-year-old at Basel 13 years ago – the Egyptian’s last outing was his best performance of the year by far.
Saturday’s opponents City are his third most-favoured team to play against, with 13 goals and eight assists in 25 games. Only Manchester United and Tottenham (16 goals each against them) have suffered more. Guardiola respects Salah greatly – the pair have had plenty of private chats over the years – but he has also been his toughest opponent in England.
Salah, 33, was also regretful about Wednesday’s opponents PSG last year. A last 16 clash last March was a tussle worthy of the final, with a pair of 1-0 away wins followed by the French side prevailing on penalties. If the fine margins had gone slightly differently, Salah and Co could have marched all the way to the trophy and maybe even a Ballon d’Or. So there is still unfinished business for him.
With no club football to capture the imagination, the 10 days since Salah’s departure was announced have been filled by endless debates about where he ranks among greats and what his best moment in a Liverpool shirt was.
This is leg one of his farewell tour and Salah is still aiming to add more memories to those lists. After trying to oust Slot with incendiary comments earlier in the season, Salah could still be the man to save his job.
