Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher admires Mohamed Salah for being blunt about his motivation in the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday. Mo Salah said plainly, earlier this month, how he would rather see Real Madrid in the final match than Manchester City.
Although Salah didn’t say specifically why, the answer is obvious. In the 2018 UCL finale, when these same two teams met, Madrid central defender Sergio Ramos made an aggressive challenge on the Egyptian and knocked him out of the game.
UEFA Champions League Final FYIs
TV/Streaming: CBS Sports’ coverage kicks off on Saturday, May 28 (1:30 PM, ET)
Broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and streaming live on Paramount+.
Liverpool-Real Madrid kicks off at 3:00 PM, ET.
Team News: Real Madrid Liverpool
Starting XI Predictions: Real Madrid Liverpool
After Extra Time Podcast: Apple Spotify
Result Probability: Real Madrid 29% Liverpool 45% Draw 26%
Odds: Real Madrid +230 Liverpool +115 Draw +260
The injury was so bad that Salah wasn’t the same until several weeks after.
Everyone in the Madrista world will likely tell you that the altercation was clean, and that Ramos was just playing the game within the rules, albeit in the grey areas. Any Scouser, or somebody with #YNWA in their online bio deemed the play dirty as hell.
Obviously, Salah, who had to exit the last meeting between these two teams early, wants redemption here. Carragher pointed that out.
“I think it will be a big motivation for him,” the CBS Sports Pundit said today while on his network’s UCL Final preview press call.
“He was very aggrieved, because that was his moment in some ways. He had been a revelation when the whole world had taken notice of him as he had 44 goals that season.
“The whole sort of that campaign with Liverpool was built around this guy winning the Champions League for them and he got, shall we say? Sergio Ramosed? Experienced the dark arts, whatever you want to call it in that game.
“And I think that was a huge blow for them really.”
The former Liverpool defender appreciates Salah telling it like it is, instead of just toeing the party line.
“Players and managers never like to talk of revenge, they don’t like to use that word in the press, or maybe in some ways motivate the opposition really, but we all think it.
“I actually admired Mo Salah for being honest to say he’d rather play Real Madrid because Man City is the better team, and also because of the unfinished business.
“I like the fact that he’s honest about it and it also makes me realize that he is going to be so determined to win this game.
“And that makes me feel good as a Liverpool supporter.”
Carragher also cautioned of course, of potentially getting carried away.
“And sometimes that can go too far,” the 44-year-old Merseyside native added.
“You want to play well, too much, really, so I hope it doesn’t manifest itself in terms of taking stupid shots, taking silly angles when you should be playing people in, it does do that from time to time, but no, I think he’s gonna have a huge role to play in the game.
“He has not been at his best in the second half of this season. I think he’s aware of that. I think we’ve seen signs of frustration from him at different times, but I think he’ll feel like this is his redemption.”
Grab your popcorn! Should be good watching on Saturday!
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.