Set for Saudi? 

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All it took was one shot to rule out 71 minutes of hard work. After a spirited performance that had seen Liverpool dominate proceedings across the pitch at Anfield on Tuesday night, Ousmane Dembélé found space on the edge of the opposing box to drop a shoulder and curl a left-footed shot into the corner of the net. It was Paris Saint-Germain’s first shot on goal in the second half, but it proved enough to rule out any late magic in front of the Kop. Then, to add insult to injury, the Frenchman doubled his tally for the night in added time by capping off a tidy counter-attack from his side, as they coasted to a spot in the semi-finals with an aggregate score of 4-0 over their Premier League rivals.

While Dembélé may have stolen the limelight on the pitch, at full-time attention turned towards another prolific goalscorer in the competition: Mohamed Salah. Brought on just 31 minutes into the game to replace the injured Hugo Ekitike, the Egyptian huffed and puffed down the right wing in an attempt to overturn a two-goal deficit. However, despite his best effort, Salah never really came close to unlocking the stubborn Parisian defence and was left empty-handed in what could prove to be his last ever appearance in the Champions League. So how does the Liverpool legend stack up against the best that have ever featured on European football’s greatest stage?

Although Salah didn’t score on Tuesday night, he can still hang up his Champions League boots with a record to be proud of. Across 98 games in the competition, the Egyptian star bagged an incredible 50 goals and 21 assists. No African player has scored more goals in the Champions League’s entire history, and rather remarkably only two players have managed more goal contributions in the competition than Salah since he made the move to Anfield in 2017 – Robert Lewandowski (82 goals and assists) and Kylian Mbappé (91 goals and assists).

When we look across the entire span of the Champions League’s history, Salah naturally tumbles down the pecking order but still stands tall among the game’s greatest ever forwards. The Egyptian’s tally of 71 goals and assists places him thirteenth in the all-time records, ahead of Ángel Di María and Vinicius Jr (both on 66 goals and assists) and just three goals behind Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and Manchester United pair Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs. And, as we can see in the table above, Salah would need just four more goals or assists to break into the top 10.

Whether Salah will feature again in the Champions League remains to be seen. Reports seem to suggest that a move to Saudi Arabia is his most likely destination, but a move to Italy or Spain certainly can’t be ruled out. And considering where he stands in the all-time rankings, the forward may fancy his chances to add to his tally with another campaign in Europe next season. But, irrespective of where he finishes on the table, he’ll always be a European Cup winner and a legend at Anfield