Mohamed Salah reveals changing boots after Newcastle penalty miss
Mohamed Salah has revealed he swapped his boots at half-time of Liverpool's 4-2 win against Newcastle United after missing a penalty early on.
The Reds eventually romped to an emphatic victory on New Year's Day at Anfield but they lacked a clinical and cutting edge during the first half.
Luis Diaz had an opener ruled out for a marginal offside against Darwin Nunez in the build-up before Salah saw a spot kick saved by Martin Dubravka after the Colombian winger was tripped in the 18-yard box.
That miss was Salah's fourth from his previous ten penalties, and speaking to post-match, he admitted he swapped his boots at the break, though insisted this was because he had only trained in them once prior to the game.
«The other ones [boots] I missed the pen with, I just trained with yesterday. It's not superstitious because I play with many boots. But when I feel it's going to play with my head, OK, out, change the boots!» Salah said.
«But I don't like to go in the second half of this game thinking, 'I didn't score with this'. So I just made my mind calm and focused on the game.»
«I'm calm. I try to do my job. I always practice. The first one I was confused because the goalkeeper was moving and he was waving and I thought, 'OK, let's go in the middle', but he managed to save it very well.
»The second one I did what I did in training and did my thing."
Salah eventually gave Liverpool the lead just after half-time, but the hosts were immediately hit back by a goal from Alexander Isak against the run of play.
Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo put the Reds 3-1 up, only for a header from Sven Botman to bring Newcastle to within one goal again.
Liverpool iced the game after being awarded a second penalty when Diogo Jota fell under a challenge from
Read on 90min.com
