Konstantinos Tsimikas scored the winning penalty as Liverpool kept their quadruple hopes alive with a 6-5 shoot-out success over Chelsea after an absorbing FA Cup final.

Extra-time substitute Tsimikas sent Edouard Mendy the wrong way with the decisive kick after Alisson saved from Mason Mount, as Jurgen Klopp's side secured a repeat of February's EFL Cup final win after two hours of action ended 0-0.

Liverpool had been dealt a huge blow when Mohamed Salah was forced off through injury in the first half, with Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson also substituted after 90 minutes were through.

But the Reds dug deep to condemn Chelsea to their third consecutive FA Cup final loss, and they could yet add the Premier League and Champions League trophies to their domestic cup double in the coming weeks.

Liverpool were dealt a huge blow in the first half of their FA Cup final clash with Chelsea as Mohamed Salah limped off injured. 

The Egypt forward suddenly sat down inside the Blues half 33 minutes into the contest, walking off gingerly to be replaced by Diogo Jota after receiving attention from the Reds' medical team.

Salah's exit marks just the second time he has been substituted during the first half of a Liverpool match, with the first also coming in a major final when he was infamously injured by Sergio Ramos' challenge in a 3-1 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in 2018.

Should the 29-year-old's injury prove serious, it would represent a monumental blow to Liverpool's hopes of adding to February's EFL Cup win over the coming weeks, with two Premier League matches and a Champions League final rematch with Los Blancos on the horizon.

Salah declared earlier this month that "everyone" at Anfield wanted to face Madrid in that contest, and will be desperate to be fit to feature in Paris after saying the team has a "score to settle" with Carlo Ancelotti's men. 

The attacker has scored 30 goals and provided 15 assists in all competitions for Jurgen Klopp's side, and was recently nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Season award, having scored the most goals (22) and recorded the most assists (13) in the competition so far this term.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has agreed with Mohamed Salah that the Liverpool star is the best player in the world in his position.

Ancelotti's Madrid face Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in the Champions League final on May 28 in Paris, with two contenders for the Ballon d'Or lining up against each other in Salah and Karim Benzema.

Salah has been in fine domestic scoring form once again this season, on course for the Premier League's Golden Boot award with 22 strikes, while he has been directly involved in 35 goals in 34 league games.

The Egypt international, speaking after winning the Football Writers' Association Player of the Year in England, declared himself as the best forward in the world at present.

"If you compare me with any player in my position, not only in my team but in the world, you will find that I am the best," he told BeIN SPORTS.

"I always focus on my work and do my best, and my numbers are the best proof of my words."

Indeed, only five players – Ciro Immobile (156), Kylian Mbappe (167), Cristiano Ronaldo (169), Lionel Messi (174) and Robert Lewandowski (232) – have scored more than Salah (154) since his Liverpool debut in August 2017 across Europe's top five leagues in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Lewandowski (49), Benzema (44), Mbappe (35), Christopher Nkunku (34) and Immobile (32) are the only players from the same group to outscore Salah (30) this season.

The debate continues over who should win the next Ballon d'Or with Benzema, who could deliver World Cup glory for France in Qatar to aid his cause, and Salah among the front-runners for the personal accolade.

Ancelotti, addressing a pre-match news conference ahead of a LaLiga clash at Cadiz on Sunday, admitted that no player comes close to Salah in his position at the minute.

"Salah has said that in his position he is the best in the world and I think he is right," Ancelotti told reporters.

"I agree with him. In his position, yes, he is the best in the world."

Kevin De Bruyne and Son Heung-min have joined Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold in being nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Season award.

De Bruyne, who won the award in 2019-20 despite Manchester City missing out on the title to Liverpool that season, is enjoying his best goalscoring campaign for the club.

He netted four goals in a 5-1 thrashing of Wolves on Wednesday, taking him to 19 in all competitions.

Salah is the only other past winner to be up for the award, having scored 22 goals and provided 13 assists (both league-high tallies) in another outstanding campaign as Liverpool battle City for the title.

Fellow Reds star Alexander-Arnold is also on the shortlist after racking up 12 assists in 31 appearances, as is Tottenham forward Son, who scored his 21st league goal of the campaign in Spurs' 3-0 win over Arsenal on Thursday.

Despite hitting 18 and 15 league goals respectively this season, Manchester United and Spurs strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane are among the highest-profile players to miss out being nominated.

The other players on the eight-man shortlist are City defender Joao Cancelo, Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse, and West Ham's Jarrod Bowen.

Bowen is one of just three Premier League players to record double figures for goals and assists this season (both 10, along with Salah and Chelsea's Mason Mount).

Meanwhile, both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are in contention to be named Manager of the Season at the end of another enthralling title race between their teams.

Guardiola has already won the award on three occasions (in 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2020-21), the same amount as Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. Only Alex Ferguson, with 11, has won it more often.

Klopp won the award when he led Liverpool to their first Premier League title in 2019-20, while the other three nominees all manage sides currently in the bottom half of the table.

Brentford's Thomas Frank is among them after leading the Bees to safety in their first top-flight season since 1946-47, as is Patrick Viera after an impressive first campaign with Crystal Palace.

Newcastle United's Eddie Howe is the final boss on the five-man shortlist, after the Magpies became the first side to go winless through their first 14 games in a Premier League campaign and avoid relegation (three had done so and gone down - Swindon Town in 1993-94, QPR in 2012-13, and Sheffield United in 2020-21).

Public votes will contribute towards deciding the winner of each award, with Premier League club captains also getting a vote on the players' award and a "panel of football experts" helping to choose the winning manager.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah did not mince his words when defending his place as he declared he is the best player in the world in his position.

The Egypt international is on track to win the Premier League Golden Boot, while also boasting the highest assist tally in the top flight, being directly involved in 35 goals from his 34 appearances.

Salah was recently named the Football Writers' Association Player of the Year in England, and has a chance to make history with this Liverpool team as they have won the EFL Cup, and are still in the hunt for the Premier League title, FA Cup and Champions League.

Speaking to beIN SPORTS, Salah was adamant that there is no forward in world football scaling his heights.

"If you compare me with any player in my position, not only in my team but in the world, you will find that I am the best," he said.

"I always focus on my work and do my best, and my numbers are the best proof of my words.

"I like to always create a new challenge for me, to work in a different way and to make a difference, and that is my duty."

Ahead of Liverpool's Champions League final against Real Madrid – which is a rematch from the 2018 final, when the Spaniards won 3-1 – Salah called it "revenge time".

"Yeah – when we lost in the final, it was a sad day for all of us," he said. "But, yes, I think it's revenge time."

Jurgen Klopp has questioned UEFA's allocation of tickets for the Champions League final, where Liverpool will face Real Madrid.

The game at the Stade de France on the outskirts of Paris will be played on May 28, and both participating clubs have been allocated fewer than 20,000 tickets each to sell to fans, despite the capacity of the stadium being 75,000.

Speaking at a media conference ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash with Tottenham, Klopp was asked about the impact of the travelling Reds support this season, and he was keen to point out the ticket issue.

"When you see the ticket prices and all this kind of stuff, the amount of tickets you get only... did I read, is it right that we only get 20,000, they get 20,000, [but] 75,000 in? That makes 35,000, what? Where are these tickets?," he asked.

"I cannot be more appreciative, more thankful for what [the fans] are doing. Unbelievable... It is the only bad thing about the journey [fans struggling to obtain tickets]. I really hope they all can make it somehow and can create an incredible atmosphere.

"That is what I love about this game, really. The world will be red or white, but everybody will be either or, so that's really cool."

The game will be a repeat of the 2018 Champions League final, in which Madrid ran out 3-1 winners in Kyiv thanks to Gareth Bale's brace and a Karim Benzema goal.

Mohamed Salah was forced off injured following a crude Sergio Ramos challenge early in the contest, and the Egyptian has not held back in his assertions that the Reds want revenge this time around.

Salah posted: "We have a score to settle" on social media on Wednesday, before also saying when he received his Football Writers' Player of the Year award on Thursday: "We lost in the (2018) final, it was a sad day for all of us and I think it is revenge time."

Klopp was not quite as forthright, though he did pay tribute to Madrid's astonishing semi-final win against Manchester City, when Los Blancos came from 5-3 down on aggregate heading into the 90th minute of the second leg to win 6-5 after extra time at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"When we lost that final actually my favourite solution would have been to play the final the next year against Real Madrid, to be honest," Klopp admitted. "But we faced Tottenham [in 2019, winning 2-0], which was absolutely fine, in Madrid, so Madrid seems to be our destiny.

"It was strange and unlucky for City, but what Madrid did was outstanding. They got through against Paris Saint-Germain, against Chelsea, and against City, when we said before when we played Villarreal that if you knock out Bayern, you deserve to be in the semi-final, if you knock out these three [teams], you definitely deserve to be in the final.

"It will be great. That we were not happy that night, that's clear, but it was a while ago. I'm happy to go there and give it a try. Until then, we have a lot of games to play and you will ask a lot of questions about Real Madrid until then.

"What Carlo [Ancelotti] did there is absolutely incredible. If you go to a final the idea is you want to win it and that is what we'll work on the week before."

Mohamed Salah is relishing the prospect of facing Real Madrid after they were confirmed as Liverpool's opponents in the Champions League final.

After Liverpool's dramatic second-leg win over Villarreal carried the Reds through to the May 28 trophy match in Paris, Madrid's taste for the epic was exhibited on Wednesday, scoring two goals in injury time and a third in extra time to eliminate Manchester City.

The 29-year-old Salah reacted on Twitter after Madrid's win, affirming that he and Liverpool have a "score to settle".

He has now gone further to suggest everyone at Liverpool wanted to face Los Blancos more than their fierce Premier League rivals at the Stade de France.

"If you ask everybody [at Liverpool], everyone wanted that game," Salah told Sky Sports. "I don't know why we're not allowed to talk about it, but I'm okay to talk about it – I wanted that game. I wanted to play Real Madrid before that game [against Manchester City].

"Of course, I'm not giving too much credit to them. They're an unbelievable team with a great coach, great players. When they asked me who I wanted, I said Madrid. It's an easy answer."

Salah holds a personal record of one draw and four defeats in the five times he has played against Los Blancos in the Champions League, scoring once – in the first leg of the 2020-21 quarter-final stage.

The 2017-18 final between Liverpool and Madrid was memorable for Salah's early injury and substitution, after a duel with Sergio Ramos where he was dragged down.

Despite personal disappointments for both Liverpool and Roma against Madrid, the Kyiv final four years ago is the one that lingers in the memory, both publicly and individually.

"You just feel so disappointed, so down," Salah said. "'Ah come on, not in this game!' But once you have time, it makes you forget.

"I had work affairs and then I had a holiday after. In that holiday I just asked, 'What do you want? To keep crying about it and be sad about it and it takes you down? Or you just fight back.' And I fought back in the best way and that's why we're here now."

Mohamed Salah and Liverpool will get another shot at revenge against Real Madrid, who progressed past Manchester City to secure a place in the Champions League final on Wednesday.

Liverpool saw their way past Villarreal on Tuesday, coming back to win the second leg 3-2 to win 5-2 on aggregate.

Immediately following Real Madrid's dramatic win over City, Salah took to Twitter to state his feelings. 

The 29-year-old famously went off injured early as Real Madrid defeated Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv.

He scored as Liverpool also lost 3-1 on aggregate in the 2020/21 quarter-final stage.

Mohamed Salah would rather face Real Madrid than Manchester City in the final of the Champions League in Paris as they target the quadruple after seeing off a spirited Villarreal performance in the last four.

Liverpool survived a huge scare in Spain to reach their 10th European Cup/Champions League final, with Fabinho, Luis Diaz, and Sadio Mane scoring second-half goals after Villarreal wiped out the Reds' first-leg lead in an unbelievable first half.

Liverpool have become the first team to reach the finals of the European Cup/Champions League, the FA Cup, and the League Cup in a single season, and trail City by just one point in an absorbing Premier League title race.

The Reds' incredible form has led to talk of Jurgen Klopp's team lifting four major trophies at the end of the campaign, with Salah hoping to complete the quadruple against Madrid having been substituted after suffering an injury in Liverpool's 2018 final loss to Los Blancos.

"Yeah, [it's a target] for sure," he told BT Sport. "Maybe not in the beginning of the season if I'm honest, because I always focus on the Champions League and the Premier League, but now we are close for everything, so why not? 

"I think after we beat City in the semi-final of the [FA] cup [Liverpool believed it was possible], but in the Champions League, from the beginning we were playing unbelievable games, we had a really tough group and we beat everybody, so I said from that time we could win the Champions League this year.

"I want to play Madrid, I have to be honest. City is a really tough team, we played against them a few times this season, but I think if you ask me personally, I would prefer Madrid.

"Because we lost in the final against them, I want to play against them, and hopefully win against them as well."

Salah assisted Fabinho's vital 62nd-minute goal in Spain, taking his tally to an incredible 45 goal contributions in all competitions this season (30 goals, 15 assists), and the Egypt international revealed he had set himself a target of 40 goals before the campaign began.

"I just give the team everything, we have to focus for the team because we fight for everything, we won one trophy already, we are in the final, we continue to fight for the Premier League and we are in a final against Chelsea [in the FA Cup]," he added.

"I just focus, and try to train hard. I know what I want at the end of the season, so hopefully I can get what I want. 

"Before the season starts, I know what I want from the season, individually and collectively. The collective is the most important, [but] I'm nearly there, I have a big expectation for myself. 

"Honestly, I never said this before but before the season started, I was like 'okay, I'll go for 40 goals this season, and 10 or 15 assists'. I need to focus on the goals now!"

Reds defender Virgil van Dijk, meanwhile, hailed winger Diaz for his impact after the January arrival changed the game as a half-time substitute, but refused to join Salah in stating a preferred final opponent.

"The way he goes one versus one, it doesn't really matter who he is facing, he just goes at you without any fear," Van Dijk said of Diaz. "And if he loses it, he wins it back and goes again. That is very difficult to defend.

"Any team that we face in the final of this competition will be a nightmare to play against. We know City but they know us too. We know how intense those games are. Real Madrid is Real Madrid. Such a big club and an in-form striker [Karim Benzema]."

Liverpool's Champions League final opponents will be revealed when Pep Guardiola's City travel to the Spanish capital on Wednesday, attempting to defend a 4-3 first-leg lead to set up an all-English final.

FIFA have ordered the Senegalese Football Federation to play a competitive match behind closed doors and fined them $180,000 after a series of incidents in March's World Cup qualifier against Egypt, including the use of laser pens to target Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.

After Egypt and Senegal each claimed 1-0 home wins in their two-legged play-off for World Cup qualification, Salah was targeted by a number of laser pens as he missed his penalty in the decisive shoot-out in Dakar, which Senegal went on to win.

Egypt lodged a complaint after their defeat, which came little over a month after the Pharaohs had lost the Africa Cup of Nations final on penalties to the same opponents, also claiming Salah was subject to racist abuse and their team bus targeted by missiles before the game.

Just as he did in February's Africa Cup of Nations final, Salah's Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane netted the winning spot-kick to hand Senegal a place at the Qatar World Cup.

Now, FIFA's disciplinary committee has punished the African champions for a series of offences, including a "failure to implement existing safety rules and failure to ensure that law and order are maintained in the stadium."

Senegal have also been punished for an "invasion of the field of play, throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, use of laser pointers and use of objects to transmit a message that is not appropriate for a sports event."

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Football Federation have also been ordered to play a match behind closed doors, and received a fine of $154,000, after a pitch invasion that followed their away-goals elimination against Ghana in Abuja.

Senegal will be making their third appearance at the FIFA World Cup later this year, and will kick the tournament off when they face the Netherlands in Group A on November 21 – the first time since 1954 where the tournament's opening match doesn’t involve either the hosts or the defending champions.

Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara and Trent Alexander-Arnold were all named among the substitutes for Liverpool's Premier League clash with Newcastle United on Saturday as Jurgen Klopp heavily rotated his side.

The Reds travelled to St James' Park in the early kick-off aiming to pick up the win that would see them overtake Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, albeit having played a game more.

Klopp has complained about the timing of the match, coming three days on from facing Villarreal in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, with the return fixture to come on Tuesday.

The German coach made five changes to face Newcastle on the back of the 2-0 win over Villarreal, with Premier League top scorer Salah and fellow first-team regulars Thiago and Alexander-Arnold among those to drop out.

Fabinho and Ibrahima Konate were also named on the bench, with James Milner, Naby Keita, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Diogo Jota all recalled, the latter making his 50th league appearance for the Reds.

Divock Origi, who starred from the bench in last week's 2-0 win over Everton, was ruled out of the squad due to illness not related to COVID-19.

Newcastle, who had won four in a row heading into the Liverpool match, made three changes as Fabian Schar, Jonjo Shelvey and Miguel Almiron all came into the starting line-up.

Newcastle United XI: Dubravka; Krafth, Schar, Burn, Targett; Bruno Guimaraes, Shelvey, Willock; Almiron, Joelinton, Saint-Maximin.
Subs: Dummett, Lascelles, Ritchie, Manquillo, Wood, Murphy, Darlow, Gayle, Longstaff.

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Milner, Keita; Mane, Diaz, Jota.
Subs: Kelleher, Fabinho, Konate, Thiago, Salah, Jones, Tsimikas, Alexander-Arnold, Elliott.

Jurgen Klopp does not expect news of his new Liverpool contract to have any bearing on the futures of star duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

It was confirmed on Thursday Klopp had agreed a two-year extension to his deal at Anfield, meaning he has committed to Liverpool until 2026.

Egypt forward Salah is soon to enter the final 12 months of his deal and this month described the situation as "really sensitive".

Mane's is also out of contract in 2023 and reports have naturally suggested the focus for Liverpool is now on securing the futures of their best players have tied Klopp down for the foreseeable future.

But Klopp does not necessarily think there is a link between his own long-term plans and those of Salah and Mane.

"That's more a question for the boys to be honest, what it means to them," Klopp told a news conference ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash with Newcastle United.

"It's fine, my relationship with both is great. In life there are always more things to think about, not only the manger, the coaching staff. 

"We don't know exactly, there's no 100 per cent in this business but it's pretty likely I'll stay for a while. I think everything is clear in this moment.

"If it's a positive sign for the boys then great. I don't think that will be the one decisive thing. 

"They have to make their own decisions in life, it's good. We just have to make sure everyone who wants to be here can know what to expect."

Klopp had previously suggested his old deal, which would have ended in 2024, would be his last at Liverpool.

Asked to explain what changed, he replied: "The main reason for it, I signed the last contract I thought it would be like this [his last deal].

"An idea, a plan would have been [to stay] a long time, [it would have been] eight years in 2024. I thought that will be it

"You [the media] ask me things and I give an answer, what I said I thought it would be it to be honest. I didn't think about it anymore to be honest that's the truth. 

"You ask from time to time, the plan didn't change yet. The plan changed, that's all."

Klopp believes the timing of the news can offer stability to Liverpool, not only now but for further down the line when he eventually does depart the club.

"We want to try and make this club successful for as long as possible, if not forever. That doesn't mean I will be here forever of course," he said.

"It is done early. And it's good for transfer windows. We cannot guarantee success, but we can guarantee stability which in difficult times is a big thing to guarantee.

"For me, at this moment in time, this is the place to be. This club offers a lot, we are building a stand again and it's a sign we never want to stop developing.

"This is no threat, but this is only the start. We really go for it now.

"We can't wait 10 years to make memories. We have to do it now. We have to enjoy the journey. We don't know if we will win anything. But at the moment, we try to squeeze everything out of this season that is possible."

"The last two years were really hard because corona dominated our lives, we thought it was over then 'the other guy' [Vladimir Putin – a reference to Russia's invasion of Ukraine] put us in trouble. So, we have to cherish these moments."

Mohamed Salah has been named the men's Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association.

The Egyptian wins the award for the second time in his career after enjoying another fruitful campaign with Liverpool.

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr won the women's award, which for the first time was voted for by the full FWA membership, having previously been decided by a panel of experts.

Salah received 48 per cent of the voting, finishing ahead of Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne and West Ham's Declan Rice.

The Liverpool attacker has 44 goal involvements in 44 appearances this season in all competitions (30 goals, 14 assists) as he and his team-mates continue to hunt down what would be an unprecedented quadruple.

Kerr received 40 per cent of votes to beat Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema and Man City's Lauren Hemp, who finished second and third.

The Australian has scored a goal a game in the Women's Super League this season, bagging 18 in 18 for the league leaders, with a further four assists.

Chair of the FWA, Carrie Brown, told the FWA website: "Both Mo and Sam have been outstanding this season, breaking records for both club and country. As well as their performances on the pitch, they are leaders and standard bearers of excellence at their clubs and respective leagues.

"The fact they have won by such convincing margins underlines just how impressive they have been this season which has been recognised by our members."

Both Salah and Kerr will be presented with their awards at a Footballer of the Year dinner on May 5.

The Premier League's longest-serving manager is to remain in his post until 2026 after agreeing a two-year contract extension to his deal at Anfield.

Having already led the Reds to their first ever Premier League title, ending a 30-year wait for top-flight glory, and a sixth European crown since arriving in England in 2015, Klopp is looking to become the first boss to win a historic quadruple in another fine campaign.

Liverpool finished eighth when Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers during the 2015-16 season but the German's canny recruiting has helped restore the club to one of the game's global powerhouses.

And Stats Perform has used Opta data to run through the club's best signings of the Klopp era.

Sadio Mane

Having led the Reds to EFL Cup and Europa League finals after inheriting a squad built by predecessor Brendan Rodgers, Klopp went about remodelling his team in 2016, with then-Southampton forward Mane representing the biggest arrival ahead of his first full campaign at the helm.

Mane registered 13 goals and seven assists in his debut season, with only Phillipe Coutinho managing more goal contributions for the Reds (14 goals and nine assists). The Senegal forward managed his best campaign to date when scoring 26 goals in all competitions two years later, also winning a vital penalty in the opening stages of their Champions League final win over Spurs.

Including this season, Mane has hit 20 goals in four of his last five campaigns at Anfield, more than paying back his £30million price tag.

Mohamed Salah

If Mane's arrival was a success, where do you start with the debut campaign of Salah, who joined Mane and Roberto Firmino to form a fearsome Reds front three in 2017?

In all competitions, Salah scored an unbelievable 43 goals and registered 14 assists during his first season with the club as Liverpool finished as Champions League runners-up. Salah has hit 117 goals in 176 Premier League appearances for the Reds, has scored in a Champions League final victory and won two Premier League golden boots to date, with another extremely likely to follow this term.

Not bad for a player Chelsea let go for a reported £13.5million back in 2016…

Virgil van Dijk

While Salah and Mane have arguably provided the most magical moments for Klopp's Liverpool, would any of their incredible successes have been possible without the acquisition of Van Dijk in January 2018?

With former club Southampton receiving a reported £75million for his services, Van Dijk certainly did not come cheap, but it could be argued no other player can rival his impact at Anfield. Having conceded 38 league goals in 2017-18, Liverpool shipped just 22 in Van Dijk's first full season with the club as they were crowned European champions and narrowly missed out on the Premier League title.

Indeed, after racking up 97 points that season, Liverpool earned 99 when winning their first Premier League title in 2019-20, 30 more than they earned in the 2020-21 campaign when Van Dijk was sidelined by an ACL injury.

Allison 

The 2018 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid was a turning point for Klopp's Liverpool. The heavy metal football that propelled Klopp to stardom had gotten the Reds so far, but Loris Karius' costly errors demonstrated their need for a safer pair of hands.

For all that Van Dijk's brilliance contributed to Liverpool's incredible defensive record in 2018-19, Allison's arrival must also be credited after he kept 21 clean sheets and recorded a save percentage of 77.08 per cent that term. The Brazilian could yet better those statistics this season, posting 19 Premier League clean sheets to date.

Liverpool's shot-stopper even popped up with a vital goal against West Brom last season to help secure Champions League qualification.

The Hull City left-back, the silky Spaniard and Liverpool's next great attackers: The best of the rest…

Klopp's Liverpool have generally recruited brilliantly since his arrival, and while the aforementioned quartet have arguably had the greatest impact on the team's development, there are numerous others who warrant a mention.

In terms of pure value-for-money, no signing can match the £7million purchase of Andrew Robertson, with only Trent Alexander-Arnold (17) beating the Scot's 15 assists in all competitions this season.

Thiago Alcantara, who arrived from Bayern Munich ahead of lasts season, took a while to convince some doubters, largely owing to the silky midfielder's bad fortune with injuries, but the Barcelona man has been inspirational in recent weeks and no regular Reds midfielder can match his passing accuracy of 89.56 per cent this term (all competitions).

If Liverpool could be said to have had one weakness in recent seasons, meanwhile, it was a lack of reliable back-ups for Salah and Mane.

However, the form of Diogo Jota and January arrival Luis Diaz has been crucial to Liverpool's quadruple bid. With Jota averaging a goal every 134.6 minutes in the Premier League this term, and Diaz recording five goal contributions (three goals, two assists) in just seven league starts, the duo could be crucial in Klopp's next cycle.

Mohamed Salah has set his sights on further Champions League and domestic success with Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp's side face Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final encounter on Wednesday, just under three years on from their last triumph in the tournament. The Champions League is one of three trophies that Liverpool are still in the hunt for this season, having already won the EFL Cup.

Salah helped Liverpool to victory in an all-English affair against Tottenham on that occasion in 2019, and says he wants to recapture those highs with a second European crown.

"I want to have the feeling again that we had after winning the Champions League," he told the club's matchday programme ahead of the game.

"It was unbelievable and in my mind that's why I want to win it again with Liverpool. The feeling we had in the city when we went on the bus and toured was unbelievable. 

"The Premier League was kind of different because it was not done [due to COVID-19 restrictions], but I want to win the Champions League again and I want to win the Premier League again. 

"That is my target with the team right now."

Salah has enjoyed another prolific campaign at Anfield, and is the leading scorer in the Premier League this season with 22 goals to his name, five ahead of his nearest rival Son Heung-min of Tottenham.

But the forward feels he has more to give than what he has delivered, adding: "I saw my game improving, but the season before last I had 19 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League.

"In my first season it was also 10 assists, so I'm always trying to score goals and give assists. 

"That is always my game and this season I feel a lot of improvement with the ball, but I go back to what I said before. The most important thing is to help this team win trophies and I am trying to help to do that."

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