Pep Guardiola says Mohamed Salah does something that is ‘so difficult’ to stop

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Pep Guardiola explained why stopping Mo Salah for Liverpool’s goal was ‘so difficult’. The forward produced something special.

Pep Guardiola saw Mohamed Salah race away to score on 76 minutes yesterday – a goal that saw Liverpool beat Manchester City at Anfield. The Egyptian produced magic to make it happen, too.

As Alisson claimed a free-kick, Salah spotted a chance to isolate himself against Joao Cancelo. He darted up the pitch, facing up the full-back and hoping the goalkeeper would spot him. It was an ‘incredible mindset’, according to Michael Owen.

Alisson did spot him, of course, and fired a long ball up the field. Salah backed into Cancelo, who attempted to stay tight. What the City defender didn’t see coming was for the forward to flick it past and roll him all in one motion. With that, Salah was through on Ederson and would finish with ease.

Guardiola knew full well that the moment was defining. You can see him drop to his knees in certain angles of the goal from the moment Salah turned Cancelo.

Liverpool’s no.11 is ‘so difficult’ to stop in such situations, he said after the game.

“We conceded a goal because of a mistake, and we didn’t follow the transition,” he told ManCity.com. “Alisson plays it out quick, Kevin didn’t follow, and Joao lost the duel.

“It is always so difficult against Salah with the way he uses his body.

“This is something we have to learn for future tight games against Liverpool, but the way we played, the performance and the courage we played with was fantastic.”

Guardiola on the Salah goal

Physically, Salah is virtually unstoppable. He’s stronger than most players out there and if he isn’t, you can be certain that he’s quicker. Cancelo essentially didn’t know how to defend him in that moment.

The ‘mistake’, as Guardiola calls it, was to get too close. Cancelo should have let Salah take a touch and then closed him down. Instead, he gave Salah a chance to take him out of the game with one move.

It was a world-class moment, though, and we wouldn’t criticise Cancelo for it. Salah simply produced genius skill right when Liverpool needed it.