Egyptian football superstar Mohamed Salah celebrated a landmark Liverpool appearance with a goal in the Reds’ 2-1 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday.

Bournemouth took a surprise early lead through Callum Wilson, minutes after Salah managed to level it in the 25th minute before Sadio Mane bagged the winner shortly afterwards.

Salah, who signed for Liverpool three years ago, was able to assign himself the club’s all-time scorer after playing only 100 games for the Reds in the Premier League. Salah managed to score 70 league goals in 100 caps with the English giants, passing Liverpool’s former finest striker Luis Suarez who scored 69 goals in 110 games and Spanish striker Fernando Torres who scored 65 goals in 102 games. Salah also became the first Liverpool player since Michael Owen in 2002-03 to reach 20 goals in all competitions in three successive seasons.

Salah was the fastest player in the history of the club to reach that number of goals in the minimum number of matches. In their first century of Premier League appearances, only Alan Shearer scored more in the history of the English competition. 

“I always love to score and help the team get points,” Salah told BT Sport following Saturday’s win. “We need to keep going for the next three games and the rest of the season,” he reflected on Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Anfield Road against Atletico Madrid. Atletico upset Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 16.

The stats below show how Salah is now one of the Premier League’s greatest strikers.

 Most goals after 100 Premier League appearances for a single club: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) – 79 goals; Mo Salah (Liverpool) – 70 goals; Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) – 68 goals; Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) – 64 goals; Fernando Torres (Liverpool) – 63 goals;

 Most goals after 100 Premier League appearances for Liverpool: Mo Salah – 70 goals; Fernando Torres – 63 goals; Robbie Fowler – 62 goals; Luis Suarez – 62 goals; Michael Owen – 54 goals.

Liverpool are still on top of the Premier League table with 82 points, 25 points ahead of second place and defending champions Manchester City. They can clinch the title after just three more games. With nine matches left to play, Salah is the team’s top scorer with 16 goals, only one away from Arsenal’s striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Leicester attacker Jamie Vardy, both with 17 goals.

Salah was the league’s top scorer the last two seasons.

*A version of this article appears in print in the  12 March, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly