Mo Salah- another Liverpool Kop legend wins the big prize.

Mo Salah- another Liverpool Kop legend wins the big prize.

When it comes to footballing legends and renowned goal scorers Liverpool have got a pretty impressive pedigree. Last Sunday it was announced that another Anfield matinee idol entered into the  club's highly esteemed Hall of Fame. His name is Mo Salah or Mohamed Salah, he comes from Egypt and he has the hairiest and most hirsute beard just for good measure which probably means nothing in the bigger scheme of things but it does lend his character just a hint of  debonair charm.

Of course we know what the Egyptians have historically given the world and when the season of 2017-18 is recorded for posterity and memorably written about the name of Mo Salah may figure much more prominently than even he must have thought possible. The former Roma winger, outstanding scorer from all angles, came back to haunt his old team in Liverpool's astounding 5-2 first leg Champions League semi final at Anfield.

But perhaps, quite appropriately, this may be the time to reflect on the magnitude of Liverpool's achievements when the Champions League was known as the European Cup. Forever more, prolific goal scorers at Liverpool will always be lovingly remembered for their heroic, all conquering exploits. How the Liverpool Kop will reminisce misty eyed at the men who made it all possible during the 1960s, 1970s and then again later in the 1980s.

There was that most multi faceted and versatile of sports men Kevin Keegan, a bundle of destructive dynamism, a bustling busybody, a figure of perpetual motion, as capable and adept in the air as he was on the ground. Keegan ran his opponents into the ground, driving his body forward like some lightning fast sports car, tackling, chasing, scurrying, scampering, creating spaces where none had hitherto existed, inventing and instigating movements which to the rest of his Liverpool colleagues probably seemed highly unlikely. And  then he punched his fists in the air passionately when the goals went in. Keegan scored goals for fun and he scored regularly and systematically.

Then there was John Toshack, a tall, gangling, loitering, menacing and lethal goal scorer whose headers whistled past goal- keepers with that brutal ferocity and velocity that very few of his like could ever emulate or surpass. Toshack, a Welsh international striker of some note and influence, was a powerful forward who connected with his headers at near or far post with the sweetest timing. He and then super sub David Fairclough were like striking assassins who thrived on meting out the ultimate punishment of goals scored on those big European Cup nights for Liverpool.

Of course during the 1960s there was the unstoppable and matchless Ian St John and Peter Thompson both classically trained at the goal scoring finishing school. St John always seemed to be in the right place and the right time and would score consistently for Liverpool whenever the occasion demanded. Rather like his Scottish partner, Thompson had electricity in his feet, speeding, shuffling along the wing deceptively then injecting pace and turbo charged acceleration into his wing play that would leave his full backs gasping at Merseyside air.

And so back to the present day. Mo Salah picked up, richly and deservedly, the Professional Footballers Association Player of the Year award quite certainly the first Egyptian to win such a glittering award. Throughout this season Salah has given quite the amazing demonstration of clinical, bloodthirsty goal scoring. Some of his goals both at Anfield and away from home have not only defied description but also the laws of gravity. He strikes a ball with the most fearsome whip and delivery. The shots have been addressed in much the way that a golfer hits his first shot down a fairway, a clean and precise follow through head up before hammering the ball first time with a superlative accuracy.

With the season rapidly approaching its final stages Salah has now scored an incredible 43 goals in 47 appearances, a figure that his similarly idolised predecessor Kenny Dalglish may well have envied if he was the jealous type which quite clearly he isn't in any sense of the word. Dalglish, like Salah, had an almost mental photograph of where the goal was, turning defenders inside out like the proverbial spinning top and striking the most immaculately judged shot into the roof of the net. Salah moves onto passes swiftly, reads the intentions of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane and charges headlong towards goal before drilling his goals into the net with formidable force.

And so it is that Mo Salah now finds himself perhaps on the verge of what would undoubtedly be the crowning moment of his short career, a Champions League Final against either those famous European Cup serial winners Real Madrid which would be a repeat of the 1981 European Cup Final when Alan Kennedy scored the winner in Paris, or the much respected and deeply feared Bayern Munich who could be lying in wait.

Goal scorers come in all shapes and sizes and it is at times like this when we go back to those halcyon days when goal scoring was not so much a habit, more a way of life, second nature, habitual, expected and somehow customary. Somehow they were always there, on the spot, everywhere, determined, persistent, all over the field, wonderfully ubiquitous, an adorable pain in the neck to slow moving defenders who were never quite up to the mark.

During the late 1970s Bob Latchford scored what seemed a mammoth 30 goals for Everton in one season. Latchford was stocky, muscular, broad shouldered, hard and legally aggressive. Latchford ran and rampaged forward onto passes from the likes of Dave Thomas and Martin Dobson, firing home goals with sheer brutality and brusqueness. Latchford was never afraid to mix it with the big boys and the goals came thick and fast.

Further back in time one man, coincidentally also from Everton, broke all manner of goal scoring records. His name was Dixie Dean and back in the late 1920s, Dean, all swept back tidily black hair, scored a barely believable 60 goals in one extraordinary season for the Goodison Park side. In hindsight Dean's goal scoring prowess has to be seen in context. It is hard to believe that today's athletically gifted defenders would have been quite as charitable as they must have been then.

And so it is time that we must return to our man from the land of the Pyramids and the Pharaohs, a man rich in Eastern promise. Mo Salah is quite rightly the PFA's player of the year and if either Keegan, Toshack or St John happen to be leafing through their football annuals at any time they may care to consider that a gentleman from Egypt will now be counting the days down to the World Cup in Russia during the summer with some relish. Some of us will be quietly anticipating a goal scoring machine but not at the expense of Gareth Southgate's England. Mo - this is your stage.