Mo Salah was once again the scourge of Manchester City in the opening quarter-hour at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon!
The Liverpool forward opened the scoring in the 14th minute when a corner kick was flicked on by Dominik Szoboszlai into his path and he crashed the ball to the net for his 30th goal of the season and his 13th against Pep Guardiola’s side.
However, there was one moment shortly before that strike which truly showcased the Reds’ number 11 at his blistering best.
Salah leaves Ake for dead
In the 12th minute at the Etihad, Salah took possession on the right flank just inside his team’s half of the pitch and had little room for manoeuvre with Nathan Ake paying close attention to him and attempting to match him stride for stride.
However, the 32-year-old kept surging forward and then left the Man City defender for dead with an outrageous flick of the ball before latching onto it and driving into the space in front of him.
The danger was eventually snuffed out, but not before the Premier League’s current top scorer for the season had made his way into the home side’s penalty area.
Salah just too hot for Ake to handle
Most players in Salah’s position when he took possession of the ball wouldn’t have even made it beyond the halfway line before either running the ball out of play or being tackled by their opponent, but Liverpool’s number 11 is a class above.
Ake didn’t even do anything notably wrong, trying to apply pressure on the Egyptian as best as he could, but he had no answer to the 32-year-old putting on the afterburners.
That moment was just what the Reds needed after a strong start to the game from Man City, with Jeremy Doku looking particularly dangerous on the left flank up against Trent Alexander-Arnold.
However, it was the Liverpool winger who produced the first killer moment of the match to put his team potentially on course for an 11-point lead in the Premier League title race (at the time of writing).
You can view Salah jinking past Ake below, taken from bEIN SPORTS’ match coverage and shared via @HurstShawn65238 on X:
pic.twitter.com/UNDCrPm167
— new account @centerofgoals (@HurstShawn65238) February 23, 2025
