Three-goal Salah hands off Man of the Match award to 500-app Milner

Mohamed Salah, fresh off the back of scoring a hat-trick against Bournemouth, refused to take the Premier League's man of the match award, instead handing it off to James Milner to commemorate the Englishman's 500th Premier League appearance.

SkySports Greg Whelan was interviewing the pair post-match when he handed the award to Milner to give to Salah.

But Salah pushed it back and said: "No. 500 games. I have to congratulate him (Milner) for his amazing career.

"He deserved it today and he's had an amazing career so I hope we're going to win something this season together but I will not take it."

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Milner was named as The Reds' right-back for the clash at Dean Court, with Jurgen Klopp having chosen to bench his only fit orthodox right-back in Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match-up with Napoli at Anfield.

Klopp said before the match that he was confident the utility man would cope in an unfamiliar role, going so far as to say Milner would have played in goal if it meant getting to 500 apps.

As the German boss predicted, however, Milner deputised ably in Alexander-Arnold's absence and became the second youngest player to hit the 500 milestone, just over a hundred days later than Gareth Barry.

And it wasn't just Milner who was singled out for plaudits, with Mohamed Salah having bagged three to take him - since the start of last season - within just one strike of Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Indeed, his opener - albeit an offside goal - was his 40th goal in his 52nd league appearance for Liverpool, the fastest a player has ever reached that milestone in a Reds shirt.

The win moved Liverpool top of the league ahead of Manchester City, who play later on Saturday.

Salah said: "My expectations is very high.

"Everyone else expectations of me are high. But the most important thing is that we are top of the table."