Salah was instrumental for the Reds.
Arne Slot paid tribute to Mohamed Salah’s mentality after he responded to missing a penalty against Galatasaray by inspiring Liverpool to a 4-0 Champions League win and scoring his 50th goal in the competition.
Liverpool trailed 1-0 from the first leg of the last-16 tie in Istanbul, but the scores were level on aggregate after Dominik Szoboszlai’s 25th-minute finish.
Salah missed a golden chance to complete the turnaround just before half-time when his poor low penalty was saved by Ugurcan Cakir.
But Salah was outstanding in the second half, laying on the assist for Hugo Ekitike to give Liverpool the advantage in the tie, with his goal quickly followed by Liverpool’s third as Ryan Gravenberch tucked home on the rebound after Cakir had thwarted Salah again.
After Liverpool saw an own goal from Wilfried Singo ruled out for offside, Salah’s moment arrived when he bent home in typical fashion to become the first African player to score 50 Champions League goals.
Slot praises Liverpool talisman
Salah then came off with an apparent injury after hitting the crossbar, but Slot had plenty of plaudits for Liverpool’s Egyptian star.
Slot told TNT Sports: “I think it says a lot about his mentality that he missed the penalty just before half-time. And that was of course a difficult moment because after 45 minutes being 1-0 up was ridiculous if you looked at the run of play. But that happened so many times to us, so for us it’s not so ridiculous.
“And then to come out second half and perform like that, the great assist on Hugo and the goal he scored was a trademark of him, I think he scored many of them. So yeah, credits to him and to the whole team.”
Liverpool now face holders Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight, having lost to Luis Enrique’s side on penalties in the round of 16 last season.
“We were completely outplayed away from home last season and then lost on penalties,” Slot said of that rematch.
“They haven’t dropped their standards, but after tonight they won’t be happy to play us.”
