Mohamed Salah could have simply provided the diplomatic response that most soccer players do.
He simply couldn't do it. Salah was asked minutes after Liverpool reached the Champions League final three weeks ago if he had a preference for which side he would face in the title match in suburban Paris.
Salah stretched his neck and turned his head from side to side, as though warming up for another game. "I'd like to play against Madrid."
Salah has certainly not forgotten what happened in the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv against Real Madrid. When he tussled with Sergio Ramos in the first half and landed heavy on the ground, dislocating his left shoulder, it was a heartbreaking moment. The wily Ramos looked to pin Salah's right arm and roll the forward down to the grass, which some compared to a wrestling-style action.
Salah wept on the field and watched the rest of the game on TV in the locker room as Liverpool fell 3-1 without their most probable scorer.
Four years later, Ramos is no longer at Real Madrid, having recently completed an injury-plagued debut season with Paris Saint-Germain.
That didn't stop Salah from tweeting "we have a score to settle" after Madrid joined Liverpool in Saturday's final by overcoming Manchester City in the semifinals with an incredible second-leg comeback.
Salah remarked in another interview of playing Madrid, "I think it's retribution time." The dude has a goal in mind.
Perhaps in a variety of ways.
Given that he has yet to sign a new contract with Liverpool, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that this may be his final appearance for the club. Negotiations appear to have reached a stalemate. Salah's contract has one year left on it, and he is free to speak to other clubs in January.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has acted as though he is unconcerned with the situation, but he, like the club's fans, must be worried about a possible split. Salah has stated that money is not a concern, and that all he wants is to be appreciated for everything he has done for the club.
"At the moment, I'm not focused on the contract in my mind," she says "Salah stated this on Wednesday. "I'm not trying to be self-centred."
Liverpool has signed three attackers in the last two years to future-proof its attack: Diogo Jota in August 2020, Luis Diaz in January, and long-term signing Fabio Carvalho from Fulham this week.
Salah's teammates Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are still with the club — in fact, Mane is playing as well as he has ever at Liverpool — but his departure would be a massive blow to the club, especially now that Man City has bolstered its forward line with the arrival of Erling Haaland.
Salah has just ended his third Premier League season as the top scorer, either outright or tied, in his five years at Liverpool, sharing the Golden Boot award with Tottenham striker Son Heung-min with 23 goals. Salah also had the most assists (13).
Many considered him to be the most in-form player in international soccer for the first half of the season, scoring 10 goals in his first nine games, including a hat trick against Manchester United and perhaps the goal of the season with that slaloming solo run and finish against City.
Salah hasn't been as prolific since returning from the African Cup of Nations in February, and Diaz has taken some of the spotlight away from him, but he remains Liverpool's most likely match-winner — the guy Klopp looks to score goals more than anyone else.
"Insane season," Klopp said of Salah, who has already been named England's soccer writer of the year and is the favorite among British bookies to win the vote among his peers.
This is the type of player Madrid will face on Saturday, and who the Spanish club may still want to sign after missing out on getting Kylian Mbappe from PSG. Salah, on the other hand, wants to avenge what happened in 2018, as seen by his recent statements regarding the game.
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