Mo Salah does what he wants.
When you’ve scored 42 goals in a season where you’ve started 43 times for your team, it makes perfect sense that bookies aren’t going to start handing out incentives to get people betting on a man who, let’s face it, is going to score.
At 25 years of age, Mo Salah has made a Ronaldo-like habit out of finding the net and seemingly doing it with such ease that it shouldn’t be a big deal even if he does it in every single bloody game.
Honestly, everyone knows there will be a moment on Wednesday night in Rome when the Egyptian is strolling through on goal – one of those times where he looks like he’s doodling because he has so much time and space and composure but he’s actually eating up yards like a gazelle – he’ll draw out the ‘keeper, he’ll shape to shoot, he’ll delay a half step and he’ll dink it over the top of Allison who will be left wondering how on earth he let this happen again.
But, even with a 5-2 lead, even though they know that all they have to do is stop the hosts scoring three times, some of the odds for the Champions League semi-final second leg are reflective of two things: how deadly Liverpool are, and how mad they are too.
Jurgen Klopp famously said that he likes heavy metal football and that chaos and unpredictability still means that the bookmakers are not confident the English outfit can ‘do a job’ in the Italian capital.
Instead, you’d get even money for expecting at least four goals in the clash with Boyle Sports offering to return one quid for every 50 you spend on backing at least one to find the net.
The message is simple, expect goals.
And, of course, when you have Mo Salah running free around the pitch – particularly not being marked by Roma who played no full backs the first day – you’re going to have to assume that he at least will have a bit of success.
He’s still available at a tasty 3/1 first goalscorer price.
Roma of course stopped Barcelona and Messi already and hit three at the other end. But this Liverpool side are so out of control and so off the cuff and so Mo Salah inspired that it’s very, very difficult to see three goals being enough for the Italians this time around.
