Inside Mohamed Salah's rejuvenation: How Sergio Ramos incident, advice from Arsene Wenger and chess shaped Liverpool star's renaissance

The wrangle with Ramos made Salah think seriously about his physical shape and turned him into the outstanding physical specimen he is today, the perfect picture of health and an unbelievable footballer who has already directly contributed to 22 goals this season.

According to sources, Salah went away after Kyiv and made a vow to himself that he was going to come back and never limp off or kicked out of a game in that way. The clash accelerated a certain kind of training from the forward, who decided to strengthen his upper body and his joints. He was in good shape when he came to Liverpool, but there's no doubt that in the last three, four or five years, he's gone up several levels in terms of physique. Being forced off early in the biggest game of his career and then having to miss half of the World Cup is believed to have played a big part in his obsession with being stronger and more well built. "Everything happens for a reason, I believe, and you have to deal with it," Salah told GQ in 2022.

To get an idea of how much Salah has bulked up in the last few years, look at the difference in his physique between when he first ripped his shirt off to celebrate a goal at Southampton in April 2019, and when he did the same after burying his penalty in the 3-2 win on Sunday. His shoulders are broader, and his abdominal muscles are bigger and more pronounced.

Some players joke about Salah having his shirt off all the time, but there is a deep respect for his professionalism. The Egyptian is always the first player to arrive at Liverpool’s AXA training ground, often reporting two hours before a group session to either go to the gym, do yoga, have an ice bath or do pre-activation.

The forward has become a role model to many players, past and present, when it comes to nutrition and diet. In the canteen, both experienced players and youngsters will ask the staff what Salah ate and then order the same. They will also look to mimic his fitness routines.

Salah has been described as "absolutely obsessed with training and fitness", with everything he does linked to his performance, be it to eke out an extra year in his career, or an extra 10 goals in a season. The forward has spoken of being inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still breaking records at the age of 39, and Francesco Totti, who kept going until he was 40.

Salah said earlier this month: "Cristiano was also the one when I started playing in Europe more, you see the way he dedicated everything to football is insane, the way he looks after himself. You can see everything, his numbers. But these guys I looked at when I was young and I just wished to play one game with them, or to be like them one day. I had a good opportunity to play with Totti and I played with him for two years in Rome. It was an incredible time, I just loved it."

Salah is also described as being a big voice in the dressing room, a loud and upbeat character, not a brooding superstar who keeps to himself.

As well as taking the physical side of the game deadly seriously, Salah believes in mental training. He is an avid chess player, a passion he shares with Premier League coaches Pep Guardiola and Enzo Maresca. It means he is always switched on and is ahead of the game; the fact his brain is always engaged has helped his evolution.

When he arrived at Liverpool, he was seen as a dribbler above all and then he became a poacher, scoring a then-Premier League record 32 goals in his debut season while contributing 10 assists. He has become even more creative in the last few years, setting up 35 league goals in his last seasons. This season, Salah already has 10 assists in all competitions in addition to his 12 goals. He has also worked more on creating goals with the outside of his foot, and more recently improving his shooting with his right foot.

Salah's quest to always improve can be seen in how he studies success coaches like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and Napoleon Hill. There is a lot of cynicism about self-help gurus, but for Salah it has worked. He also sought the advice of someone with more relevant experience...

Arsene Wenger visited Liverpool's old Melwood training ground after he had left Arsenal, and Salah asked him what separated the great players from the very good players. Wenger told him, 'great players stay in the game right to the end. Even if a game is not going their way, even if they're having a bad day, the great players will still be there until the final whistle.'

Salah has taken that advice on board: his last five goals in the Premier League have been scored in the final third of matches. Three of them have come in the last 10 minutes and made a huge difference to the scoreline: the equaliser at Arsenal, the clinching second goal against Aston Villa and the winner at Southampton. The things he does to engage his brain off the pitch, to test his concentration, have surely helped.

"I know there are some games I don't have the momentum, but I'm always focused in the game to finish stuff," Salah said in a club interview with Andy Robertson and Alisson this month. "I always find the momentum. I'm not always very good in the game, it's normal, but I always try to find a way to change a game. Some players don't accept the feeling and keep fighting it, but if you accept it, it's nothing. It's more your imagination. It's ok to feel that way, It's OK to have a bad game, but the most important thing is to stay in the game and try to make a difference."

That attitude explains why Salah is so rarely substituted, even when it does not appear to be his day. This season he has only been taken off three times before the 90th minute, and only when Liverpool were already winning.

In that same interview, Salah revealed that Robertson encouraged him to work on his body language in the first season as, when he missed a big chance and threw his hands up in the air, it sent out a worrying message to the crowd.

"Since then, even when I miss a chance now I smile. Even if you're a little bit frustrated, with time you understand the situation comes and goes, emotion comes and goes, you try and deal with it in the best possible way," he said. "Every day I'm at the training ground I enjoy it a lot. I'm enjoying every second of it. I want to look back on my career and say 'I enjoyed it a lot'".

Salah certainly seems to be enjoying his football a lot more than in the latter stages of last season. His form in the run-in was impacted by a hamstring injury sustained at the Africa Cup of Nations, leading to him missing eight Liverpool games in total. He scored just four times in the league between the middle of February and the end of the season, and was not helped by another injury he sustained as soon as he returned, meaning he started the title showdown with City on the bench.

He was benched two more times in April when he was not injured, and when he was brought on in the 79th minute at West Ham, he gave Jurgen Klopp a deathly stare. After the game, Salah managed to dominate the headlines without giving an actual interview, telling waiting journalists: "If I talk, there will be fire."

There was and remains great mutual respect between Klopp and Salah, but it is fair to say that their relationship was becoming more strained towards the end of the German's tenure. Salah, though, is not the only Liverpool player who has benefitted from the change in coach. As much as Klopp was idolised by supporters and loved by players, it can never hurt to have a new voice, new ideas, new assistant coaches, and a different kind of energy around the place.

That is what Slot has brought, while Salah has highlighted the coach’s directness as a strength. "I didn't know I'd met a Dutch person until I'd met him," the forward joked. "He's very straight, it's clear, it's black or white which makes things easy."

Slot has made Liverpool one of the most feared teams in Europe, and Salah is among the most feared forwards, in the form of his life. He has nine goals and seven assists in his last 12 games and he will be relishing Liverpool’s next fixtures, as they take on Madrid on Wednesday, followed by City on Sunday, Newcastle next Wednesday and likely the last-ever Merseyside Derby against Everton at Goodison Park.

Salah has kept up his reputation for delivering in the biggest games this season, scoring against Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea. "He is a big-game player. His goals and assists speak for themselves and he always shows up against our rivals,” said Robertson in September. "He is a Premier League legend, of course, he is, but still wants to write a few more stories."

Robertson’s last words have become more poignant with Salah declaring on Sunday that he is "more out than in" in terms of whether he will be at the club next season. The Egyptian’s pointed words have inevitably provided a distraction, despite Slot insisting otherwise. But if this does prove to be Salah’s final season, he is determined to end it on a high.

"I want to win it all," Salah said in the club interview. "I hate the idea we are underdogs. We have an incredible group, one of the best in the world, in each position you're gonna find a player who's in the top three in the world, so why don't we win it? This city and this club has to always fight for everything."

Salah wants Liverpool to match his own insatiable appetite for self-improvement, and right now they are at his level. What better way to prove their ambitions than by beating Real Madrid, the team that caused Salah so much pain - but also shaped him.