Mohamed Salah says that losing out to Harry Kane in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot last season motivated him to take his game to a new level this year.
Tottenham star Kane finished with one more goal than his Liverpool counterpart at the end of the 2020-21 campaign when he scored his 23rd goal in the final game of the season.
Kane also topped the league's assist charts that season and it was the pain of missing out that motivated Salah to go on and claim both awards this time around.
What has Salah said about beating Kane to the Golden Boot?
Salah shared the top scorer prize with Spurs star Son Heung-min, scoring 23 goals, and beat Liverpool team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold to finish top of the assist chart with 13.
"When I signed here I can't say I expected myself to go on and win three golden boots," he said to BT Sport.
"But in the first year I was fighting with Kane at the beginning and then I said: 'I have a big chance to win it'.
"So when I won it from Kane and he had won it two years before, I went on holiday and said: 'Why not? you won it from Kane and he is top goalscorer, so give it a try for a second one'.
"I won it a second year and after that I said: 'You've got to go for four or five'.
"For five years I've always competed for it, I lost last year in the last game against Kane. Last year was painful, that's what pushed me to be who I am now this year.
"I believe that last season as a team was not really good, but to win the golden boot in the last game with one goal difference? That's not good.
"I was so motivated, I was working like crazy in the summer. I said: 'next year I'm going to win both things, the golden boot and assists'. I was working like crazy to win both."