Mohamed Salah nets four as Egypt begin road to 2026 World Cup in style

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored four goals as Egypt got their World Cup qualifying campaign off the mark with a convincing 6-0 victory.

The 31-year-old took his overall goal tally for Egypt up to 53 in 93 appearances, and is now his country's most prolific scorer in World Cup qualification matches.

He has scored 15 goals from 21 qualifying matches, overtaking Mohamed Aboutreika who scored 14 in 25 appearances between 2001 and 2013.

The winger continues to shatter records for his country, as he does at Liverpool, where he has scored 12 goals and provided four assists from his opening 17 games.

Salah and Egypt will be determined to make the next World Cup due to take place in North America in 2026, after they missed the last tournament in Qatar.

The Liverpool star opened the scoring after 17 minutes, before doubling their lead five minutes later from the penalty spot.

He added two more in the 48th and 69th minutes of the game, before Mostafa Mohamed and former Aston Villa winger Trezeguet also got onto the scoresheet.

It was Egypt's first World Cup qualifying game since Salah missed a vital penalty in March 2022, which led to Senegal winning 3-1 on a penalty shootout to make the tournament in Qatar.

There was a shock elsewhere in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup as Nigeria were held to a 1-1 draw by Lesotho - who are 113 places below them in the FIFA rankings.

Nigeria were without injured Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, and had to come from behind to salvage a point in their opening game.

Salah will next be in action for Egypt on Sunday when they face Sierra Leone in the World Cup qualifiers.

It will be their last game before the African Cup of Nations which gets underway in January, and could see Salah miss a number of games for Liverpool.