As he prepares for a final Anfield farewell against Brentford, Mohamed Salah sits down with Steven Gerrard to lift the lid on his historic nine-year Liverpool career.
The Egyptian King reveals the three vital, unheralded midfield heroes who sacrificed everything so the frontline could shine—insisting the Reds ‘wouldn’t have won anything’ without them.
The long, agonising goodbye is reaching its final, emotional crescendo. This Sunday, Anfield will brace itself for an afternoon thick with tension, nostalgia, and the undeniable sense of an ending.
As Liverpool prepare to take on Brentford in a clash crucial for guaranteeing Champions League football for the 2026-27 campaign, all eyes will inevitably be on Mohamed Salah. It marks the Egyptian King’s final home game, drawing the curtain on nine trophy-laden, record-breaking seasons on Merseyside.
In preparation for his final few matches in a red shirt, Salah sat down for a poignant retrospective with none other than club legend Steven Gerrard via TNT Sports. In a fascinating exchange between two of the greatest to ever pull on the shirt, Gerrard asked the forward a question that often splits pundits and fans alike: Which teammate from your historic Anfield tenure deserved more credit than they received?
Salah’s initial thoughts went to a fellow modern icon, before acknowledging the widespread acclaim he already commands.
“I think people don’t know how good Alexander-Arnold is, but I think he gets a lot of credit.”
The mercurial full-back, of course, left the club at the end of last year, having decided against signing a new contract in order to pursue a fresh challenge at Real Madrid. But when digging deeper into the true unsung catalysts of Jürgen Klopp’s relentless machine, Salah didn’t point to his explosive partners in attack, nor the towering presence in central defence. Instead, his mind went straight to the engine room.
“But I would say, Gini Wijnaldum, and Milly (James Milner) and Hendo. These guys are just… without them, we wouldn’t win anything. Like how we play in front… without these guys we would not win anything.”
Beyond the glamour: The midfield revisionism
For the casual observer, it’s a selection that might raise an eyebrow. Ask the wider footballing public to dissect the side that conquered Europe and ended the 30-year domestic league drought, and names like Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, or Virgil van Dijk dominate the discourse.
In fact, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, and Georginio Wijnaldum were frequently the targets of external scrutiny. To rival fans and television pundits, this specific midfield trio was regularly cited as the area Klopp desperately needed to upgrade often labelled as too functional, too industrious, and lacking the creative spark of their contemporaries.
Yet, for the Anfield faithful and Salah himself, the reality was entirely different. They were the tactical bedrock. Their selfless sacrifice was the literal oxygen that allowed the frontline to breathe, create, and destroy.
The burden of leadership
It probably goes without saying, but for Liverpool’s former captain and vice-captain in Jordan Henderson and James Milner, leadership was a living, breathing daily requirement rather than an honorary armband.
While Salah led his teammates into battle with sheer wizardry on the ball and an unquenchable thirst for goals, Henderson and Milner led with every single action. They set the standard in the dressing room, policed the training ground pitch, and demanded accountability.
By building up the psychological fortitude of the squad as a cohesive unit, they created a secure, fearless environment where superstars like Salah and his fellow attackers could truly thrive.
Redefining the ultimate work-rate
If Klopp’s football was “heavy metal,” then this trio was the tireless rhythm section keeping the beat. They were renowned for covering staggering running distances, acting as the tactical glue of the side. Working in tandem with the anchoring presence of Fabinho, they didn’t just push Liverpool into transition; they covered an immense amount of ground defensively.
This extraordinary work-rate shuttling backwards, filling passing lanes, and covering the flanks—was exactly what unlocked Liverpool’s primary creative outlets. It gave Robertson and Alexander-Arnold the absolute freedom to bomb forward and act as auxiliary playmakers, providing the ammunition for the front three.
And it wasn’t strictly a defensive operation, either. These players possessed a knack for offensive productivity when it mattered most; lest we forget, James Milner broke the all-time Champions League assist record during the 2017/18 campaign, while Henderson and Wijnaldum consistently popped up with vital attacking contributions.
When history looks back at this legendary era, these three are woven into the fabric of its most iconic, spine-tingling folklore. The definitive blueprint remains the miraculous 4-0 Champions League semi-final turnaround against Barcelona at Anfield.
With injuries piling up and the odds stacked impossibly high, Salah himself was sidelined in the stands, wearing his famous ‘Never Give Up’ t-shirt. Robertson was forced off at half-time, prompting a tactical reshuffle that saw Wijnaldum step into an unconventional role.
While Divock Origi scored the famous first and fourth goals forever cementing the “corner taken quickly” into footballing mythology it was Gini Wijnaldum who emerged from the bench to strike the two quick-fire goals in the middle that shattered Spanish resolve.
Similarly, when tracing the foundation of Klopp’s Anfield legacy, it is impossible to overlook the frenetic 4-3 Europa League comeback against Borussia Dortmund in 2016. Who was it that assisted two goals that famous night, including Dejan Lovren’s dramatic injury-time winner? James Milner.
Salah had not yet arrived on Merseyside when that erupted, but the culture, belief, and European mystique forged in that single micro-moment laid the groundwork for everything the Egyptian would go on to achieve.
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Let’s be honest here. It’s incredibly telling that as Mohamed Salah prepares to wave his final goodbyes to the Anfield turf, he isn’t looking back at the individual accolades, the Golden Boots, or the flashy highlights that fill social media packages. He’s looking at the lads who did the dirty work.
For years, a vocal section of the armchair support and keyboard tacticians looked at a midfield consisting of Henderson, Milner, and Wijnaldum and groaned. “Where’s the creativity?” they cried. “Where’s the €80m superstar playmaker?” They completely missed the point. Jürgen Klopp didn’t need his midfield to be creative; he needed them to be a shield, a machine, a relentless press-monster that allowed his full-backs and his front three to wreak absolute havoc.
Salah’s comments to Steven Gerrard are a refreshing, overdue dose of reality. He knows. He knows that without Jordan Henderson tracking back forty yards to cover a vacated right-back slot, or James Milner snapping into a tackle in the 93rd minute, or Gini Wijnaldum shielding the ball under immense pressure in the centre circle, the Egyptian King wouldn’t have had the platform to score 200-plus goals for this football club.
It’s a timely reminder as the curtain falls on this magnificent chapter. Teams are built on superstar match-winners, absolutely. But titles? Titles are won on the blood, sweat, and unheralded toil of the players who don’t care about the back pages, but care deeply about the badge. Salah gets it. It’s about time everyone else did too.
