Mohamed Salah's dismal record vs Real Madrid as Liverpool star eyes revenge

Will it be ninth time lucky for Mohamed Salah?

The Liverpool star has lost seven and drawn one of his past appearances against Real Madrid and endured plenty of heartache on the biggest stage versus the Champions League ’s most dominant club.

But he gets another chance to defeat Los Blancos at Anfield tonight when Arne Slot ’s table-toppers, the only team with a 100% record in the competition after four games, host Carlo Ancelotti’s injury-stricken side.

Talk of Salah’s future at Liverpool may be dominating the pre-match conversation but here is a blow-by-blow account of how Salah has fared so badly against Real down the years.

In his first campaign at Roma, Salah was unable to land a blow on the La Liga giants when losing both legs 2-0. Real went all the way to an 11th title, beating neighbours Atletico in the final at San Siro.

The incident that sparked global outrage. Salah had reached the end of an impressive first season under Jurgen Klopp on top form - only for Sergio Ramos to dislocate his shoulder early on in Kyiv. It prompted the manager to fume over a “brutal and ruthless” challenge that saw more than half a million people sign a petition for the notion

But Ramos went unpunished for the incident with the game scoreless before Real ended up winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and a stunning double from Gareth Bale. Sadio Mane had initially equalised.

Salah had to wait three years for a chance at revenge but behind closed doors because of the pandemic, Real were two goals in front within little more than half an hour of the first leg. The Egyptian did pull a goal back early in the second period before Vinicius Junior scored another for Real. The return fixture ended up scoreless - which remains the only occasion in which Salah has avoided defeat.

A night overshadowed by the shambolic organisation of UEFA and local police, followed up by a shocking attempt to shift blame upon Liverpool fans. Vinicius Junior again thwarted the Reds by scoring the only goal of the game at Stade de France.

It had started quite well. It swiftly fell apart. Salah teed up Darwin Nunez within four minutes before making it 2-0 himself less than quarter of an hour into the first leg. But Real were level by the 36th minute and left Anfield with a 5-2 win. The return game passed by uneventfully before Karim Benzema scored late on.