Mohamed Salah savaged former side Roma with a brilliant individual performance in a superb 5-2 Champions League semi-final first leg victory undermined by two late goals for the visitors.

The Egypt international was the star of a performance which began as a slow-burner before turning into a blistering evisceration of Serie A’s third-placed team.

Salah scored two stunners and then provided goals for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, who grabbed another to give Liverpool a five-goal advantage cut back ahead of the return leg by late Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti goals.

Tweet of the match

Star man – Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah was in sensational form once more on Tuesday
Mohamed Salah was in sensational form once more on Tuesday (Peter Byrne/PA Images)

What is there left to say about this man? Signed from Roma in the summer, Salah continues to look a snip at £38million. His fine form continued in the Champions League semi-final first leg, scoring a brace and providing two more. The complete performance.

Moment of the match

Roma had started brightly at Anfield and hit the crossbar before Liverpool belatedly jolted into life. Jurgen Klopp’s men were knocking at the door as half-time approached, with their star turn unlocking superbly it in the 35th minute. Allowed to cut onto his left, Salah bent a peach of a strike into the top-left hand corner to send the home faithful wild.

Stat of the match

Ratings

Liverpool: Loris Karius 7, Trent Alexander-Arnold 8, Virgil van Dijk 8, Dejan Lovren 6, Andy Robertson 7, James Milner 8, Jordan Henderson 8, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 6, Sadio Mane 8, Roberto Firmino 9, Mohamed Salah 10. Substitutes: Georginio Wijnaldum (for Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18) 7, Danny Ings (for Salah, 75) 6, Ragnar Klavan (for Firmino, 90) 6.

Roma: Alisson 6, Federico Fazio 6, Kostas Manolas 5, Juan Jesus 4, Alessandro Florenzi 6, Daniele De Rossi 6, Kevin Strootman 6, Aleksandar Kolarov 6, Cengiz Under 5, Radja Nainggolan 6, Edin Dzeko 7. Substitutes: Patrick Schick (for Under, 45) 6, Maxime Gonalons (for De Rossi, 67) 6, Diego Perotti (for Jesus, 67) 7.

Who’s up next?

Liverpool v Stoke (Premier League, Saturday 28 April)
Roma v Chievo (Serie A, Saturday 28 April)