KOMPAS.com - Legenda AS Roma , Francesco Totti , mengaku kagum dengan apa yang dilakukan Mohamed Salah bersama Liverpool musim ini.
Sebelum memutuskan pensiun pada akhir 2016-2017, Totti sempat bermain bersama Mohamed Salah selama dua musim di AS Roma. Menurut Totti, Salah berhasil karena strategi Liverpool membebaskan dirinya berekspresi.
"Musim ini saya telah menonton banyak pertandingan Liverpool, terutama karena Mohamed Salah sekarang bermain di sana. Saya telah mengikuti perkembangannya secara konsisten," kata Totti seperti dikutip BolaSport.com dari Sky Sports .
"Dalam beberapa hal, Salah telah mengejutkan saya karena ini adalah musim pertamanya di Liverpool. Namun, di sisi lain, ia tidak mengejutkan saya. Mereka telah memberikan peran yang memungkinkan bagi dirinya untuk mengekspresikan diri sebaik mungkin," tutur Totti.
Baca Juga: Mohamed Salah Singgung Chelsea Usai Menangi Gelar Pemain Terbaik Liga Inggris 2017-2018
AFP/VINCENZO PINTO Francesco Totti menjalani laga terakhirnya sebagai pesepak bola profesional pada laga antara AS Roma dan Genoa di Stadion Olimpico, Minggu (28/5/2017).
Liverpool berani mendatangkan Salah dari AS Roma dengan mahar Rp 712 miliar karena torehan 34 gol dan 24 assist selama dua musim.
Tanpa diprediksi, Salah berhasil mencetak 31 gol dari 33 laga untuk Liverpool di ajang Liga Inggris atau 41 gol di semua ajang.
Hal tersebut membuat Mohamed Salah berhasil menyabet gelar PFA Player of the Year atau Pemain Terbaik Liga Inggris edisi 2017-2018 mengalahkan Kevin De Bruyne yang sukses mengantarkan Manchester City menjuarai liga.
Salah akan berhadapan dengan AS Roma pada babak semifinal Liga Champions musim ini. Leg pertama akan berlangsung di Anfield pada hari Selasa (24/4/2018) atau Rabu dini hari WIB. (Verdi Hendrawan)
LIVERPOOL , KOMPAS.com - Mohamed Salah akan menjadi pemain paling disorot saat Liverpool bertemu AS Roma pada babak semifinal Liga Champions . Pasalnya, Mo Salah yang kini berseragam Liverpool, pernah tiga musim membela AS Roma.
Penyerang AS Roma, Edin Dzeko , mengakui timnya akan memberi perhatian khusus kepada Mo Salah. Mereka juga tetap berusaha menjaga pemain lain.
"Jika Mohamed Salah mampu mencetak setidaknya 30 gol di Liga Inggris, maka dia bisa membuat kami dalam masalah," ujar Dzeko dikutip Bolasport.com dari situs resmi UEFA.
"Liverpool adalah tim yang kuat, tetapi jika kami hanya berkonsentrasi pada satu pemain maka itu menjadi sebuah kesalahan," tutur Dzeko.
(Baca juga: Marko Simic Dibanderol Rp 20 Triliun, Persija Bisa Beli 11 Pemain Termahal Dunia )
Dzeko juga mengungkapkan bahwa pertandingan kali ini akan berjalan ketat karena kedua tim memiliki keinginan yang sama untuk mencapai partai final.
"Kami memiliki 180 menit untuk mencapai mimpi kami, tetapi itu tidak akan mudah," ujar Dzeko
"Kiev (tuan rumah final) adalah tujuan kami, tetapi pertama-tama kami harus berpikir tentang mengalahkan Liverpool, yang tentu memiliki keinginan yang sama dengan kami," ucapnya.
Pada leg pertama, Liverpool akan menjamu AS Roma di Stadion Anfield, Selasa (24/4/2018) atau Rabu dini hari WIB. (Putra Rusdi Kurniawan)
Image copyright Getty Images
Social media users in Egypt have reacted with pride as Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah became the first Egyptian footballer to be named the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year.
He is only the second African footballer to win the award, after Leicester City's Algerian midfielder Riyad Mahrez in 2016.
Salah, 25, has scored a 31 Premier League goals this season this season (equalling the 38-game-season record held by Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer) with three league games still remaining.
In Egypt, his triumph was front page news and the hashtag "the legend Mohamed Salah" has been shared more than 25,000 times since the announcement as compatriots paid tribute to the player Liverpool fans christened the 'Egyptian king'.
Egyptian actress Rasha Mahdi was among many to tweet an image of Salah as a pharaoh.
Salah is a national icon in Egypt. Last year, the footballer's 95th-minute penalty against Congo secured a 2-1 victory which saw the Egyptian national team qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Streets have been named in his honour, as well as a school in the city of Basyoun, while in January the footballer was received by Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
President al-Sisi was first elected president in May 2014, close to a year after he removed his elected predecessor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, in a coup. The Muslim Brotherhood is now banned in Egypt.
But political groups on both sides were among those to offer their congratulations. Pro-state figures and Muslim Brotherhood supporters alike were quick to signal their support.
Haytham Abokhalil, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood human rights activist, said Salah's award "gives confidence to our youth that it can be the best if it has the appropriate possibilities and opportunities".
To those sharing images of Salah's meeting with the Egyptian president, he said: "whoever publishes photos of Sisi with captain Salah are a minority who wish to remain in the sick ward".
Several official state bodies have issued statements congratulating Salah. A foreign ministry spokesman said that Salah was "a source of national pride and happiness," and "a true inspiration to the youth of Egypt and Africa".
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Paying tribute to Salah as "the source of happiness for millions of Egyptians", the chairman of Egyptian Premier League side Zamalek, Mortada Mansour, noted that one of his predecessors had rejected the chance to sign the player in 2011.
Political activist Mahmoud Mohamed said the struggles Salah faced early in his career demonstrated his resolve.
"Mohamed [Salah] resisted and struggled," he tweeted. "He had one and two setbacks and did not give up. He has achieved the dream."
The footballer's success has resonated in other parts of the Middle East and Africa, where his name has also been trending online. Many Twitter users saw the award as a source of pride not just for Egypt but for the entire Arab world.
Saudi social media user Tariq al-Nofai shared a video interview with Salah, filmed when he was playing for Swiss side Basel.
"An interview which brings hope to the weary and those whose dreams are bigger than reality," he tweeted.
Lebanese singer Yara shared a photo of Salah carrying the award, saying "congratulations to Egypt and all Arabs".
Salah said he was "happy and proud" to win the award. "It's an honour and especially as it's voted by the players," he added.
It's an expression that those who have watched the English Premier League over the past eight months have grown accustomed to.
Sitting down inside Liverpool's Anfield Stadium the day after scoring a key goal in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg, Salah is in a relaxed mood.
Less than 12 hours earlier, Salah had scored his 39th goal of the season in Liverpool's 2-1 win over Manchester City, sending the club through to the last four of European football's most prestigious competition.
Wearing a black hooded jumper and ripped skinny black jeans, he slowly finishes off his coffee as he looks out across the Anfield turf after a recovery session at the nearby training ground.
"I love that when I was a kid that I was playing the PlayStation as Liverpool," Salah jokes.
For those who have been fortunate enough to watch Salah this season, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that some of his performances have appeared to be from a virtual reality.
His searing pace -- which would have left most game console players with repetitive strain injury in their constant pressing of the buttons on their handset -- has been complemented by unerring accuracy in front of goal.
And yet, for many who have followed English football, Salah's exploits have come as something of a surprise.
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Salah is not shy in his assessment that he was rarely given a chance during an ill-fated spell with Chelsea in 2014 under then coach Jose Mourinho.
Fortunately for Salah, since returning to these shores from Italian club Roma for a then club-record fee of $49 million in June 2017, he has been something of a phenomenon.
But Salah, though, determined and ambitious, does not crow about his achievements even when comparisons are drawn with Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
"I'll leave that for the people to decide," he says when asked if he's the third best player in the world.
Salah gives CNN a tour of Anfield stadium.
Microphones off, and the piercing wind biting through the holes in his jeans, Salah makes his way back inside to the relative warmth of the corporate box.
From there, it's into the car and a short drive to the next venue for our interview, the Aloft Hotel on North John Street.
Cars don't interest him, Salah says. But food does, which is fortunate given that the next part of the interview takes place over dinner.
Eating kushari in Egypt
Heads turn and murmuring starts as he begins to walk towards the table, though this is something Salah has grown accustomed to since he arrived on Merseyside.
Salah celebrates after scoring against Manchester City in the quarterfinal second leg.
Salah sits down and proceeds to order the salmon fillet, which comes with rainbow carrots, samphire, smoked leek and potato puree.
It's fair to say that he has yet to find British cuisine to his taste, though he confesses he has tried a traditional pie as well as fish and chips. Neither have really hit the spot, he concedes.
Salah watches a video message from his first coach back in Egypt while waiting for dinner.
"Nutrition is so important, it's part of the game," he says. "It has helped with my recovery, allowed me to sleep better and helped my body adapt quickly."
He adds, "My nutritionist says that because I don't have any fat on my body, I can eat what I want. I also don't drink so it's fine."
Salah vies for the ball against Congo's Tobias Badila during their World Cup qualifying game.
Instead, he prefers an Egyptian dish called kushari, which is made from rice, pasta and lentils, topped with tomato sauce, chickpeas and fried onion.
"When I go back to Egypt, I call my friend from the airport to buy kushari for us to eat in the car," he says.
"I pull my hoodie over my head, jump into the car and then I'm eating it straight away."
Talk of Egypt and home is common during the conversation and not just for the food, either.
Salah's success in England is a source of immense pride to those back home in Egypt. In fact, according to reports, such is the adulation being heaped upon Salah that it earned him hundreds and thousands of write-in votes in March's presidential election.
Egypt fans with a Salah banner during the recent game with Portugal.
So, perhaps it's with little surprise that he prefers to keep himself to himself when he does return home in a bid to escape the public glare.
But Salah is aware of his status in Egypt, a status which was further increased by the 95th-minute penalty he scored for the national team in October to send his country to its first World Cup since 1990.
And it's also why he has taken a role in an anti-drugs campaign back in Egypt in an attempt to use his platform for good.
"It's a big responsibility," he says of the expectations placed upon him. "I feel it."
Salah will lead Egypt's World Cup challenge in Russia this summer.
Egypt's size, alone, indicates how many eyes are watching him.
"If you talk only about Egypt, we are 100 million," he says. "I have to be natural and not doing anything fake, not lying on social media, in interviews and life.
"This is my life, it's an easy life. It's not complicated. I have nothing much to do during the day but it's a responsibility in the end."
It requires some balance, which Salah alternately notes and then downplays.
"You have to take it easy and carry on. I'm not nervous about that," he says. "It's also a little bit difficult because you don't have the freedom to make mistakes or something wrong.
"That's pressure but when you've been under pressure for many years you can deal with it. It's fine."
Pressure and expectations
If there is any pressure on Salah, he does not show it.
Egyptians gather at a cafe near a graffiti of Salah in Cairo.
Calm, relaxed and happy to talk, he does not appear to be fazed by the increased pressure being heaped upon his shoulders.
For Egypt, he represents the jewel in the crown of its national team and the man upon all hopes rest.
But his more immediate task is to help steer Liverpool past his former employer Roma, and towards a sixth European Cup, its first since 2005.
Liverpool came from 3-0 down to finish 3-3 with AC Milan before winning the 2005 Champions League on penalties.
Liverpool has moved through the competition unbeaten so far, and its victory over Premier League champion Manchester City underlined its credentials in Europe's most prestigious cup competition.
But as Salah's goal tally has grown -- he has scored eight in the competition so far -- so too, have expectations.
"It makes me work harder," he says of the fans' expectations. "It makes me give everything, more than before because now there's more pressure. Everyone is looking for you to do something. When I didn't score in one game, they said: 'Wow, he's playing badly'."
He adds: "Everyone is expecting something in each game I'm playing. I don't have to score in every game but I want to do my best. I want to give everything for the club for my teammates and myself also."
'Is that Mo Salah?'
It's not just Liverpool fans who have taken Salah to heart though; the entire city appears to have adopted him.
Mo Salah and Becky Anderson take a stroll around Albert Docks.
Walking along Albert Docks the following day, crowds begin to gather excitedly as they catch a glimpse of Salah.
Diners come out of restaurants to take their photos, while others look once, and then glance back almost immediately with a look that says, "No, it can't be."
"Is that Mo Salah?" one man says excitedly while trying to take a photo, his finger constantly slipping across the wrong buttons as the windows on his phone open and close.
"I'm an Everton fan but you've got to appreciate what Salah's done this season," an onlooker tells CNN.
"My wife's a Liverpool fan and she absolutely loves him."
Looking on, the man's wife just seems to have become overwhelmed with shock. "This is just amazing," she says excitedly.
Salah and Becky Anderson spend time at the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.
As the crowd grows, Salah just carries on with his walk, talking to CNN and stopping for photos with well wishers.
"He has been absolutely brilliant," a local taxi driver tells CNN. "What he has achieved this season, is phenomenal. I don't think anybody thought he would have this impact."
He talks about a city which has made him feel at home and of a community which has been welcoming and respectful, though he concedes that understanding the local accent remains a challenge.
Videos of the fans chanting Salah's name have gone viral, and are even popular inside the locker room with his teammates.
"It's a great feeling to have felt the love from my first day here," he says of his time in Liverpool. "It's a special feeling for me. It's something that makes me work harder, think more positive and everyone is looking at you to do something every game."
He reflects again on the expectations pressed upon him. "It's also more pressure but it's something huge to be here in this city. It's something different."
Liverpool legend
Walking across to the nearby Beatles Museum, one of the city's most popular tourist landmarks, Salah again stops for photos and high fives while one lady simply shouts: "I love you."
Mo Salah treats the crowd to an impromptu drum solo.
"That's Mo Salah, isn't it?" a gentleman asks his partner while trying to crane his neck to get a better view?
"Mo Farah? That's not Mo Farah," she says dismissively as Salah walks down the steps and into the entrance.
Inside the museum, home to all you would ever want to or need to know about the Beatles, Salah's presence is beginning to distract a few of the visitors.
Salah takes a look around the exhibits at the Beatles Museum.
For one group of school children, the excitement is just too much.
"Is that Mo Salah? Is that Mo Salah? I love Mo Salah!" says one schoolboy who is visiting with his class from North Wales.
The group of schoolchildren begin to serenade him with another Mo Salah song, while managing to get closer to him than many Premier League defenders have managed this season before snapping a selfie.
As the children watch Salah perform a short drum solo, their teachers attempt to handle the growing sense of excitement while simultaneously recognizing that any hopes they had of their class concentrating on their lesson plan had been blown away.
Salah pauses for a selfie with a fan while walking by the River Mersey.
Leaving the group behind, Salah walks on, taking in the photos and music of Liverpool's most famous band before making the short drive to the Beatles statue on the waterfront.
After pausing for more photos, he finally lines up alongside John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Salah lines up alongside the Beatles statue on Liverpool Waterfront.
Could the leader of Liverpool's "Fab Three" share a statue one day along with fellow forwards Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane?
For now, Salah just laughs. But for a man who can do no wrong, do not bet against it.
