Former Aston Villa captain Gabby Agbonlahor has warned Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah he may come to regret his comments that “he wanted to face Real Madrid” in the Champions League final.
On Tuesday after Liverpool staged a comeback from two goals down to defeat Villarreal 3-2 and reach the final on a 5-2 aggregate scoreline, the 29-year-old Egypt international openly disclosed he would love to face the Spanish giants in the final.
Salah posted on Instagram: “I want to play Madrid, I have to be honest. Because we lost in the final before against them. So I want to play against them, hopefully, win it against them as well.”
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His comments came before Los Blancos came up against Manchester City in the other semi-final. His wish was granted after Real Madrid also staged a comeback, to defeat the Citizens 6-5 on aggregate and reach the final set for Stade de France in Paris.
After Madrid qualified, the Egyptian captain once again took to his Instagram page to post: “We have a score to settle.”
The comments from Salah have caught the attention of 35-year-old Agbonlahor, who managed 341 appearances for Villa, scored 76 goals, and also featured for England.
According to the former player, Salah, who has so far in this season managed 30 goals, and 14 assists in 45 games in all competitions, may come back to regret his statement.
“I think Liverpool will be delighted with that result and that they’re playing Real Madrid again, but they shouldn’t be over-delighted,” Agbonlahor said as quoted by talkSPORT.
“Mo Salah tweeted like he’s got a score to settle, but it’s something that can come back to bite you. Real Madrid are no mugs. They showed on Wednesday night they were the better team, they’ve still got some great players.
“And they can rest all their players for three weeks.
“La Liga is won, they can get their feet up, get the massages in, a little bit of training, while Liverpool have got to play their best team every game.”
In 2018, during the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, Salah went off injured after a shoulder tackle from Sergio Ramos, and his side went on to lose 3-1 in Kyiv.