Mo Salah declares Liverpool the ‘best team in Europe’ after winning FWA Footballer of the Year

Mohamed Salah has Real Madrid in his sights and insisted Liverpool want success in Paris to cement their status as the best team in Europe.

Salah, the Liverpool forward, was presented with the FWA Player of the Year award during a gala dinner at the Landmark Hotel in London on Thursday night, having been given special permission by Jurgen Klopp to attend.

It is the second time the Egyptian has won the award, the first occasion coming in 2018 before Liverpool faced Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Kyiv.

That game became the worst moment in Salah’s career, as he suffered a shoulder injury and was forced off in the first half after he was wrestled to the floor by Sergio Ramos. The 29-year-old has never forgotten that episode and is desperate for the opportunity to right that wrong, calling it ‘revenge time’.

‘They (Madrid) have more experience than us in terms of history and they know how to play,’ said Salah, who leads the race for the Golden Boot and is also top of the table in terms of assists. ‘But we have very good players and a very good coach. In my view, we are the best team in Europe, maybe the world, and all we are thinking about is to win.

‘When you think about this situation, it is something great – something really amazing to be playing this game. It (avenging Kyiv) is something on our minds. We want to win. We want it more than they do. But let’s see what happens.

‘Last time we lost and I had my injury. I believe we can do it now. It was a hard time for me after the injury and a sad situation. It was the worst moment of my career. When we lost I thought we would get the chance to put it right and we did that the next season (winning the Champions League in 2019).’

Salah became just the ninth player since the award’s inception in 1948 to become a dual winner; he could also win the PFW award again but his sights are trained on helping Liverpool land the Quadruple.

‘It means a lot to win this award,’ said Salah. ‘Manchester City are a really tough team, one of the best in the world. City are always trying to win the league. I just know that we won’t stop trying so let us see what happens.’