Mohamed Salah is fast closing in on a notable Didier Drogba and Sergio Aguero Champions League mark as Liverpool prepare to face Villarreal on Wednesday.
Although the Egypt international has failed to score in his last three matches in the European competition, he could match the Chelsea and Manchester City legends should he get a hat-trick against Unai Emery’s Yellow Submarine.
As things stand, Salah is just three behind both Drogba and Aguero for the most goals netted in the Champions League for an English side (36 goals each).
In the 2021-22 campaign, the Reds forward has found the net on eight occasions to move his tally for the Anfield giants to 33 goals. Only in 2017-2018 has he scored more Champions League goals in a single campaign (10 goals and five assists).
The last time the former Chelsea and AS Roma player hit the target in Europe was against Inter Milan on February 16 in the Round of 16 as Jurgen Klopp’s men secured a 2-0 away win in Italy.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have reached the last four of the European Cup/Uefa Champions League for the 12th time, with no English side playing in the final four more often (level with Manchester United).
Indeed, as a club, they have reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup in the same campaign for the very first time.
Wednesday’s showdown promises to be thrilling as the Premier League side and the La Liga outfit have met just twice before in European competition, with both sides winning their home leg of the 2015-16 Europa League semi-finals when Liverpool would go on to progress to the final against Emery’s Sevilla.
Salah has been a key figure in Liverpool's success since joining the club in 2017, helping them to Premier League and Champions League titles as well as their push for a quadruple this season.
He only has one year left on his contract after the end of this season and when asked whether he would be signing a new Liverpool contract, the Pharaohs captain told FourFourTwo: "Yeah. Er, I think so?"
"But if they want me to go, that’s something different!
“I have one year left. I think the fans know what I want, but in the contract, it’s not everything about the money at all. So I don’t know, I can’t tell you exactly. I have one year left and the fans know what I want."