Mo Salah and Liverpool seem to be a match made in heaven. He scores for them. They write songs in his name. He delivers for the team in most crunch moments. In return, fans pledge in his name. Salah scored the opening goal for Liverpool in the 2019 UEFA Champions League final against Tottenham and fans – still not settled in their seats – started chanting their favourite song on him. Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham Hotspurs: Reds Beats Spurs to Lift UEFA Champions League 2018-19 Title.

"If he scores another few, 

Then I’ll be Muslim too…

If he’s good enough for you,

He’s good enough for me…

Then sitting in a mosque, is where I wanna be…

Mo Salah la-la-la-lah! Mo Salah la-la-la-lah!"

Chants of the song filled the Wanda Metropolitano, thundering through its open roof as over 20,000 Liverpool fans jumped on the stands riding over the voice of Spurs fans. It was only 90 seconds into the contest when Salah hammered home a penalty to put Liverpool ahead in the final. And the fans seeing their ‘Egyptian King’ once again deliver in big match situations couldn’t stop singing his name. Twitterati Lauds Liverpool FC on UEFA Champions League 2018-19 Win.

Watch a Video of the Popular Song Here:

It was also redemption for both Salah and Liverpool after the 2018 Champions League final heartbreak when Salah had to walk-off the turf after injuring his left shoulder in the opening minutes of the match. The injury happened after he was pulled down by Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. Madrid eventually went on to win 3-1 with substitute Gareth Bale scored a wonderful brace.

The redemption, therefore, called for the song and because who else but Salah was their saviour again. The lovely song is also very decisive in its lyrics. At a time when Muslims across the world are harassed and Islamophobia is trending worldwide, the song is very significant.

Salah is a devout Islam follower and maintained his Ramadan fast even during the 2019 Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur. He is considered a role model and an ambassador for the Muslim community both at home and worldwide. Ramadan 2019: Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane Were Fasting During Liverpool’s Champions League Final Match Against Tottenham Hotspur.

He has also directly contributed to a decline in hate-instigated criminal activities against Muslims since his arrival in Merseyside. The Egyptian forward, who is praised and commended for his behaviour on-and-off the field has had a great influence in England.

According to a report from Fox Sports, a study by the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) revealed that since Salah’s arrival in England there has been a significant drop in hate influenced criminal activities against Muslims. Salah joined Liverpool from AS Roma in 2017 and since then Merseyside has witnessed a drop in hate crimes.

The research paper from IPL explains the role Salah has played in reducing the harassment crime against Muslims in Merseyside, North London. The statement published read:

"We causally estimate the effect of Salah joining Liverpool F.C. on Islamophobic attitudes and behaviours using 936 county-month hate crime observations, 15 million tweets from U.K. soccer fans, and an original survey experiment of 8,060 Liverpool F.C. fans.

"We find that Merseyside county (home to Liverpool F.C.) experienced an 18.9% drop in hate crimes relative to a synthetic control, while no similar effect was found for other types of crime. We also find that Liverpool F.C. fans halved their rates of posting anti-Muslim tweets (a drop from 7.2% to 3.4% of tweets about Muslims) relative to fans of other top-flight English soccer clubs.

"The survey experiment suggests that these results may be driven by increased familiarity with Islam. Our findings indicate that positive exposure to outgroup role models can reveal new information that humanizes the outgroup writ large.”

Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to clinch their first Champions League title in 14 years and their sixth trophy overall. Liverpool also finished second in the Premier League, losing the title by a single point to eventual winners Manchester City. Mo Salah played an instrumental role in shaping the season for the club. He scored a total of 27 goals in 44 appearances for the club in 2018-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2019 03:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).