Mohamed Salah scored both goals as Trabzonspor beat Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 in the Turkish Super Lig on Monday, in his first league start for the club, Al Jazeera reports. Two further goals were disallowed.
The first came in the 8th minute, after the goalkeeper Muhammed Sengezer failed to hold the ball. The second, in the 43rd, came from Salah "bursting down the right, exchanging passes with Ernest Muci and slotting the ball into the far corner".
The two that did not count
One was chalked off in stoppage time for a foul in the build-up. The other was ruled out for offside, on a goal scored from long range with the opposition goalkeeper upfield for a corner.
That second one is the more interesting piece of football. A goalkeeper who goes up for a late corner leaves an empty net behind him, and a forward who spots it has to shoot from distance while the defenders recovering back may play him onside or not. Salah hit the target and was offside. It is the kind of moment that gets remembered whether or not it counts.
A debut with a number on it
Salah is 34. He joined Trabzonspor on a free transfer earlier this month after nine years at Liverpool, and had come on as a substitute in the season opener before this.
A free transfer for a player of that standing is a statement about age rather than ability, and the usual expectation is a gradual decline in a less demanding league. Two goals and two more disallowed in a first start does not settle that argument, but it is a good week for the side of it that says he can still play.
What comes next
Trabzonspor face Ferencvaros on Thursday in the second leg of a Europa League playoff, having lost the first leg 1-0 at home.
That is the harder test and the one that matters more to the club's season. A home defeat in a first leg means they must win in Hungary, and Monday's performance is the reason they will be more confident about it than they were on Sunday.
What we could not establish
We could not establish the attendance, the scorer of Basaksehir's goal, the exact date of Salah's transfer, or the terms of his contract. We verified this account from a single publication.
