The Egyptian scored twice in a thrilling 4-3 win for Liverpool against Crystal Palace on Saturday to take his tally to 50 goals in the English Premier League.
Only three players — Andy Cole (65), Alan Shearer (66) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (68) — have reached the landmark in as few games as the 72 it has taken Salah to notch his half-century.
Salah, 26, who won the EPL Golden Boot last season with 32 goals, is now the league’s top scorer in this campaign after finding the net 16 times, and the nervy win over Palace extends Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table to seven points.
Solskjaer sets Man Utd record
The Liverpool forward was not the only one to record a EPL milestone on Saturday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the first Manchester United manager to win his first six league games in charge after his team beat Brighton 2-1 on a day that marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Sir Matt Busby, the club’s former manager.
Only Carlo Ancelotti, with Chelsea in 2009/10, and Pep Guardiola, in his first season with Manchester City, have manged to win their first six EPL games.
Goals from Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, a spectacular strike in his 150th appearance for the club, secured a win which takes United ever closer to the top four.
Indeed, United are a team transformed since Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho on an interim basis last month — often winning with ease and winning with style to close the gap on Chelsea to three points after the Blues lost 2-0 to Arsenal.
Nervy Liverpool win puts pressure on Man City
At Anfield, Liverpool fell behind to Palace — who had surprisingly beaten City in December at the Etihad Stadium — and though Jurgen Klopp’s men were tense throughout, they managed to fight back and claim a win which puts pressure on second placed City, who play Huddersfield on Sunday.
It was Andros Townsent who put the Londoners ahead in the first half, but Salah pounced immediately after the break to level matters before Robert Firmino gave the home side the lead in the 53rd minute.
Palace, 14th in the league, came back through James Tomkins to make it 2-2, but in the 75th minute Salah took advantage of a goalkeeping error to record his 50th league goal.
With the league leaders down to 10 men after James Milner’s sending off in the 89th minute for a second bookable offence, Sadio Mane extended Liverpool’s lead in injury time with Palace’s third, through Max Meyer in the 95th minute, coming too late for a comeback.
Real move to third in La Liga
Elsewhere in Europe, Real Madrid left it late but secured a 2-0 home win over Sevilla, thanks to goals from Casemiro and Luka Modric, to move third in La Liga.
When a draw seemed likely, Casemiro struck from distance with 15 minutes remaining and Modric put the result to bed with a goal in injury time to ensure Real leapfrogged their opponents in the table.
However, a title challenge still seems remote with Real eight points behind leaders Barcelona in the table.
Paris Saint Germain thumped Guingamp 9-0 in a record-breaking Ligue 1 victory, with Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani both scoring hattricks. Neymar also scored twice, while Thomas Meunier netted in the 83rd minute against the league’s bottom side.
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