MOHAMED Salah could easily have given the kind of diplomatic answer trotted out by most soccer players. He just couldn’t.
Was there a preference, Salah was asked minutes after Liverpool reached the Champions League final three weeks ago, over which team he faced in the title match in suburban Paris?
“Yes,” Salah said, stretching his neck and turning his head from side to side as if he was limbering up for another game. “I want to play Madrid.”
Salah clearly hasn’t forgotten what went down in the 2018 final against Real Madrid in Kyiv. That painful moment in the first half when he tussled with Sergio Ramos and landed heavily on the ground, dislocating his left shoulder. Some likened it to a wrestling-style maneuver by the wily Ramos, who appeared to pin Salah’s right arm and roll the forward down to the turf.
Salah left the field in tears and
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