Salah Bags Brace Before AFCON As Liverpool Stay Top

Mohamed Salah netted a brace in his final game before leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations as Liverpool defeated Newcastle United 4-2 on Monday night.

Salah started his last game for the Reds before he joins up with Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations, while Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Luis Diaz were recalled.

The Reds carved out the first real opening after 11 minutes when Darwin Nunez combined with Salah before seeing his first-time strike saved by goalkeeper Matt Dubravka. After having a goal disallowed for offside, the home side were awarded a penalty on 20 minutes for Sven Botman's foul on Luis Diaz, however Salah failed to profit after his spot-kick was saved by Dubravka.

Newcastle had the ball in the back of the net on 36 minutes when Dan Burn nodded home at the far post, but the celebrations were cut short as Aleksander Isak deemed to have been offside in the build-up.

After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, Liverpool got their reward four minutes after the break when a neat passing move ended with Salah turning home Diaz's cross for his 150th league goal.

Newcastle weren't behind for too long as Aleksander Isak restored parity in the 54th minute with a composed finish after being slipped through on goal by Anthony Gordon.

The pendulum swung once again as Liverpool restored their lead with 16 minutes to play as Salah slipped in substitute Diogo Jota, who in-turn teed up Curtis Jones to finish into an empty net.

The third goal arrived a few minutes later through substitute Cody Gakpo, who volleyed home a cross from Salah after losing his marker in the box but Newcastle did pull another goal via the head of Botman.

However, Liverpool got their two-goal cushion with four minutes remaining when Salah made amends for his penalty miss in the first half by slotting home a spot-kick to complete his brace and seal the win.