Mohamed Salah scored twice for Egypt to end an eight-month wait for a goal for his country in what was a mixed night of results for Liverpool’s internationals.
Liverpool’s No. 11 last scored for his country in January but on Friday he put the wait behind him in a dominant performance in Egypt’s 3-0 win over Niger.
Salah played the full 90 minutes and scored on either side of half-time; the first strike saw him capitalise on free space in the box, finishing with aplomb on his left foot.
Get him close and inside the penalty box and he is lethal.
His second, and Egypt’s third, arrived midway through the second half from the penalty spot, his trademark powerful conversion the choice of strike that did not let him down.
There had been reports across social media that Salah had scored a hat-trick but Mostafa Mohamed was responsible for Egypt’s second goal of the night.
Mohamed Salah has scored twice for Egypt tonight in their friendly against Niger (first goal below).
He's now just one goal away from becoming only the second player (after Hossam Hassan) to score 50+ times for the Egyptian national team. #LFC ??pic.twitter.com/dYdJ4aLiID
— Liam Bekker (@LiamBekker) September 23, 2022
Elsewhere, the same winning scoreline came the way of Brazil after a Marquinhos goal and Richarlison brace, with Alisson the only member of Liverpool’s Brazilian contingent to feature for 90 minutes.
Alisson had few saves to make against Ghana during the friendly and finished his day with a valuable clean sheet, while Fabinho played the final 27 minutes and Roberto Firmino was an unused substitute.
Darwin Nunez got a full 90 minutes under his belt, his first of the season, in a surprising 1-0 friendly defeat to Iran.
The 23-year-old started on the left of a front three, next to ex-Red Luis Suarez and Facundo Pellistri, and had his chances in front of goal in what was a dominant Uruguay performance everywhere but on the scoreboard.
Uruguay meet Canada in a friendly on Tuesday and a goal for Nunez would be the ideal confidence booster ahead of his return to Liverpool, where a game every three days awaits until November.
Rounding off the senior contingent, Jordan Henderson was not a member of the travelling squad for England’s 1-0 defeat to Italy, while Gareth Southgate kept Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench all night.
Finally, Sepp van den Berg played the full 90 minutes as the Netherlands under-21s clinched a 2-1 win over Belgium.
Bobby Clark, meanwhile, came off the bench in a 2-1 win for the England U18s and Trent Kone-Doherty featured for the final 28 minutes as the Republic of Ireland under-17s fell to a 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands.
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