Liverpool boss Arne Slot talks up ‘special player’ Mohamed Salah

Liverpool boss Arne Slot hailed “special” Mohamed Salah after seeing him fire the Premier League leaders to the brink of victory at Newcastle.

The Reds ultimately left St James’ Park with only a point after Fabian Schar snatched a 3-3 draw at the end of a pulsating encounter, but Salah’s double – his 14th and 15th goals of the season – transformed a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead before the Switzerland defender’s late intervention.

The 32-year-old Egypt international’s future at Anfield remains a topic of debate with his current contract running down.

Asked about Salah’s future, Slot said: “It’s difficult for me to predict the long-term future, but the only thing I can expect or predict is that he is in a very good place at the moment.

“He plays in a very good team that provides him with good opportunities and then he is able to do special things.

“And what makes him for me even more special is that in the first hour or before we scored to make it 1-1, you thought, ‘He’s not playing his best game today’, and to then come up with a half-hour or 45 minutes – I don’t know how long it was – afterwards with an assist, two goals, having a shot on the bar, being a constant threat, that is something not many players can do if they’ve played the first hour like he did.

“That is also what makes him special. If you just look at the goals, his finish is so clinical. He’s a special player, but that’s what we all know.”

Salah did indeed endure a quiet opening 45 minutes by his standards and it was the Magpies who went in at the break a goal to the good after Alexander Isak’s stunning 35th-minute finish.

Slot said: “The shot from Isak, I don’t even know if Caoimh (keeper Caoimhin Kelleher) saw that ball, as hard as it was.”

Salah set up Curtis Jones to level five minutes into the second half and after Anthony Gordon has restored the hosts’ lead, levelled himself from substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 68th-minute cross.

He looked to have won it with a fine turn and finish – his ninth goal in seven league games – seven minutes from time, only for Schar to pounce from a tight angle in the 90th minute.

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was delighted with the way his team took the game to the Reds four days after their disappointing 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.

Howe, who admitted his surprise that VAR official Stuart Attwell had not taken a dimmer view of a Virgil van Dijk shoulder barge on Gordon, said: “It’s mixed emotions.

“Part of me feels we should have won it – a big part of me – but part of me is pleased we didn’t lose either because it was such a late goal for us.

“Generally, I’m just pleased with the performance. There was much more attacking output, a much better feel about the team.

“There was much better energy, and it was a really good performance against, for me, the best team we’ve played so far this season in the Premier League, so it was a big jump forward for us.”