Salah: I would sacrifice personal awards to redo Champions League final

Mohamed Salah says he would sacrifice all the personal awards he has won this season to have another attempt at the Champions League final with Real Madrid.

Vinicius Junior’s second-half strike proved the difference as Madrid secured a 1-0 victory in Paris on Saturday, defeating Liverpool to lift their 14th European Cup.

Liverpool were repeatedly thwarted by Thibaut Courtois at the Stade de France, the goalkeeper making nine saves – a record in a Champions League final since Opta began recording data in 2003-04.

That ended Liverpool’s season, which saw the Reds come close to an unprecedented quadruple, with a whimper and just the EFL Cup and FA Cup to their name.

Manchester City pipped Jurgen Klopp’s side to the Premier League title, but Salah still claimed individual accolades for joint-most English top-flight goals, assists, goal of the season, and both the FWA and PFA Fans’ Player of the Year awards.

No Premier League player could match the Egypt international’s 36 goal involvements (23 goals, 13 assists), setting him a class above his competitors.

But the 29-year-old insists he will look back on the 2021-22 campaign with regret after failing again to beat Madrid, who also lifted the 2017-18 Champions League trophy with 3-1 victory over Liverpool.

“Being recognised by the fans and by the sports journalists in the same season is something special that I will never forget,” Salah posted on Twitter. 

“I would however give all those personal awards up for a chance at replaying that final, but that is not how football works.

“I cannot express in words how much we wanted to bring that trophy back to Liverpool but in the end we couldn’t. I cannot thank the fans enough for your support.

“It has been a very long season but a part of me wishes the next one starts again tomorrow.”