Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah credits shoe swap for turnaround،
Mohamed Salah leveled Erling Haaland in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot by scoring twice in Liverpool's 4-2 win over Newcastle United after changing shoes following a missed first-half penalty.
Salah's two goals, including a second-half penalty, took the Egypt international to 14 league goals for the season in his final match for Liverpool, who moved three points clear at the top of the table, before fly to the Ivory Coast for Africa. Nations Cup.
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But after watching Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka save his penalty in the first half, Salah said he ditched his studs at half-time to avoid “playing with my head” for the rest of the match.
“Yes, I did,” Salah told Sky Sports when asked if he had changed his shoes. “The others I missed the penalty with. It's not superstitious because I play with a lot of shoes, but when I feel it's going to play with my head, OK, outside, change shoes!
“But I don't like going into the second half of this game thinking, 'I didn't score with that'. So I calmed down and focused on the game. We have to stay calm. I missed the pen. At halftime I said to myself: “Do you want to go to the national team with this performance?” Not really!
“So I had to really focus, step up and make a difference and I did.”
Salah has now missed four of his last 10 penalties for Liverpool, but said he had no intention of sitting out when referee Anthony Taylor awarded a second penalty following a trip from Dúbravka on Diogo Jota in the 86th minute.
“I'm calm, I try to do my job and I always train,” Salah said. “The first one, I was confused because the goalie was moving and he was waving and I was like, 'OK, let's go to the middle.' He was very successful in saving him.
“The second one, I did what I did in practice and did my thing.”
Liverpool's second penalty was controversial, with Jota appearing to continue running before a delayed drop in the penalty area. And Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said Taylor's penalty decisions left him “confused”.
“It shouldn’t be a given,” Howe said. “Martin withdrew his hand. He [Jota] there were two steps before going down. For me, it's not a penalty. Even the first one, the contact was so minimal. We feel sorely wronged. I'm still confused about the penalties we conceded.
“We are fighting to get back to our best levels. The effort and determination was there. As long as we continue to see that, everything will be fine. The most important thing is that we are fighting. We are missing a lot of players. We had a lot of tough games in a busy December.”
