LONDON: Multi-award winning Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is not resting on his laurels as he urged the club to end the Premier League season with a last day victory ahead of their trip to the Champions League final later this month.

The Egyptian collected awards in Liverpool on Thursday after being voted player of the season by both the club’s fans and his team-mates before boarding a flight to collect the Football Writers’ Association’s award in London.

The 25-year-old has scored 43 goals in all competitions since arriving from Roma last summer, a return that has seen him heavily linked with Spanish giants Real Madrid, who face Liverpool in the Champions League final in Kiev on May 26.

Liverpool cannot focus all of their energies on Real just yet, with the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League still not settled.

A point in their final league match, at home to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, will be enough to secure a top-four finish, after which all eyes turn to Kiev.

“I’ve had a very good season, all of us. Now we are in the Champions League final and we have one [league] game to win or draw to be in the Champions League next year. So we have two finals,” Salah said.

“We want to qualify for the Cham­pions League next season and then we want to win the Champions League final. We will play to win against Real Madrid, but for now we are thinking only about Brighton. Then we will have 14 days to prepare for the final.”

Salah, along with winger Sadio Mane and striker Roberto Firmino, have been integral to Liverpool’s success this season and he is eager to propel the club to new heights in the future despite speculation over interest from Real.

“This is just the start. This is my first year here and it is the same for some other players... this year we have had an unbelievable year,” Salah, who needs just one more goal to become the outright record-holder for the most strikes in a 38-match season in the Premier League, said.

“I’m very happy here, everything is fine,” he said. “Of course I have got ambitions for the future with Liverpool. As you can see we had a great season, now we are in the Champions League final and everyone is excited.

“We are very comfortable about playing in the Champions League next season. On the way to the final we beat top teams like Manchester City and Roma. It is just the beginning for this team.”

Salah, who was last month crowned Professional Footballers’ Association players’ player of the year, won the writers’ award ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane.

Speaking in London, he said: “I was here four years ago [with Chelsea] and a lot of people were saying he couldn’t play in the Premier League. I left Chelsea but it was always in my mind to come back to make them wrong. So I make them wrong.

“I’m not the same player. I improved a lot in Rome but I can’t say everything is me. The team-mates are maybe different. The coach is tough and they always help me inside and outside the pitch.”

Salah is also set to represent Egypt at the World Cup in Russia this year, with the African nation playing Uruguay in their opening match on June 15.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018