Reds’ striker Mohamed Salah was forced sit out the remainder of the 2018 Champions League final with a shoulder injury after a controversial challenge from his Spanish counterpart, Sergio Ramos.
The Egyptian has set aside his issues with centre-back Sergio Ramos in that encounter, at least publicly, as he gears up to face Real Madrid on April 6 in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The forward iterated he is long past thinking about his shoulder dislocation caused by a controversial clash with Ramos in the competition’s 2018 final, which forced him to watch from the dressing room the remainder of the game ending in Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat. Instead of dwelling on the ugly incident in Kyiv, Salah has focused on securing a better result against Real Madrid this time around.
“That game is in the past, so I don’t think about [what happened with Ramos],” Salah told Marca. “I’m thinking about the team. Everyone is focused on their team and everyone wants to win… that’s it.
“Let’s just say that I have special motivation to win the tie and go through to the semi-finals. What’s going to happen now isn’t going to change the result of the final in Kyiv. That’s in the past.
“I think we’re both strong. Both teams have won their last two games in the Champions League. Both teams are prepared. It’s a special competition and both teams are doing well in it.”
The incident between Salah and Ramos will always be viewed as one of the main sub-plots reeking of intrigue in the quarter-finals, regardless of how the players try to minimise it.
Both players remain dominant central figures to their respective sides despite so much having happened in the interim. Liverpool have gone on to secure Champions League and Premier League top honours while Real Madrid have claimed La Liga and several domestic cups trophies since their cataclysmic 2018 meeting.
Positionally, as things go, they will be squaring up for another direct confrontation but with the stakes entering the first leg of the quarter-final this time outweighing the objective of one-upmanship in a petty personal feud.
“I hope to be doing the same thing that I’ve been doing in recent years,” Salah said. “Winning trophies, scoring goals, helping my team win trophies… That’s the most important thing for me.”