Mohamed Salah reveals the ‘funny thing’ Virgil van Dijk did in the dressing room before the Egyptian starred in Liverpool’s rout over West Ham

Mohamed Salah was centre stage again for Liverpool on Sunday night as he scored one and assisted two more in Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of West Ham.

The Egypt forward has barely been out of the headlines this season as the saga over his contract rumbles on. Salah is out of contract at the end of the season and can enter negotiations with non-English clubs on from Wednesday over a free transfer once his deal expires.

But the 32-year-old was in jubilant mood after Sunday’s game, reflecting that it was a much better trip to London Stadium than when he last visited back in April.

Salah clashed with his then-manager Jurgen Klopp as he was about to come on at the end of the 2-2 draw. Tempers were fraught as Liverpool’s title challenge continued to unravel in the German boss’ final season at the club.

Liverpool’s all-time top Premier League scorer declined interview requests after the game, saying: ‘There’s going to be a fire today if I speak.’

Klopp tried to downplay the incident at the time, saying: ‘There’s no problem. We are absolutely fine with it. It’s a non-story.’

The Egypt forward was in brilliant form at London Stadium scoring one and assisting two more

It’s a far cry from the fixture last season when Salah clashed with then-boss Jurgen Klopp

But, now, Salah has broken his silence on the exchange and revealed that he was the subject of some ribbing about it from his team-mates. 

‘It was a funny thing because before the game, the guys in the dressing room they said “remember what happened last year?”‘ Salah told Sky Sports.

‘Virgil (van Dijk) started it. We had a laugh about it. It was not a nice moment here last year but I’m glad this one was better.’

While Salah and Klopp were tightlipped about the row, West Ham forward Michail Antonio admitted that rumours were circulating.

‘Basically – this is not inside information, nobody has told me anything – but what I have heard is what the boys have been talking about on the training ground,’ he told the Footballers’ Football Podcast in May.

‘As the (Liverpool) players come on, Klopp always gives them a big hug and says “good luck” but when Mo came on he walked in a different direction and was doing his shinpads and stuff like that. 

‘Klopp has put his hand out to him and his hand was there for a bit and as Mo stopped doing what he was doing, he just slapped his (Klopp’s) hand as a high five.

‘Obviously Klopp didn’t like that and he was like, “do you want to sit back down?”, basically saying, “do you want to go on?”. And nobody has told me what Mo said back.’

Liverpool’s 5-0 victory extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points as they seek a 20th English league title. 

That is the same number of titles as their great rivals Manchester United whom they host in their next league outing on Sunday.