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Liverpool’s Klopp Banking on Salah to Resume Best Form

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
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Liverpool’s Klopp Banking on Salah to Resume Best Form

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he hopes forward Mohamed Salah will soon rediscover his best goalscoring form following a slow start to his Premier League campaign.

Salah, who scored 23 league goals for Liverpool last season to share the Premier League golden boot with Son Heung-min, has failed to reach the heights he did in the previous campaign, having netted just two league goals.

Klopp said the Egyptian's poor form was not down to a lack of desire, adding that it was unfair to compare him to Manchester City's Erling Haaland, who scored his 15th league goal of the season on Saturday.

"I think with Mo (Salah) it's like with us, I hope we are close to exploding (with goals)" Klopp told reporters ahead of Liverpool's league trip to Arsenal. "Is it his season so far? No, like for all of us.

"Nobody in the world can cope with the (Erling) Haaland situation in the moment, it's crazy what he's doing. He's an exceptional player in an exceptional team ... and I don't think we should compare now in this moment anybody with that.

"(Salah) wants to score goals, definitely. Desperately, 100 per cent. That will never change. If you call him in 20 years, it will be the same."

Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League on 10 points after seven games. They play away to league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.

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Dakar Rally Comes Down to a Duel in the Sand between Lategan and Saudi Arabia's Al-Rajhi

Driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally between Haradh and Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally between Haradh and Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Dakar Rally Comes Down to a Duel in the Sand between Lategan and Saudi Arabia's Al-Rajhi

Driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally between Haradh and Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
Driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally between Haradh and Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)

Henk Lategan and Yazeed Al-Rajhi will duel in the Saudi sand for their first Dakar Rally title after swapping the lead for a second straight day Wednesday.

South Africa's Lategan leads his Saudi rival by 2 1/2 minutes going into the 11th and penultimate stage in the Empty Quarter dunes. Friday's last stage is a ceremonial drive to the finish in Shubaytah.

Al-Rajhi led by seven minutes before the 10th stage, a tricky 120-kilometer loop south of Shubaytah on Wednesday. But he got stuck and relinquished the overall lead back to Lategan.

“We got stuck because we were taking it easy,” Al-Rajhi said. “Everything is going good, that's the most important (thing). I have a good position, I hope.”

Lategan also took it easy but without finding any trouble, and was 10th on the stage, making up minutes on all of his nearest pursuers.

“It wasn't the plan to go quickly today,” Lategan said.

On Thursday, he will start 10th and Al-Rajhi 27th and they can push harder by taking advantage of the tracks of those in front.

'Most disappointing day of my life'

Third-placed Mattias Ekström fell two minutes further back to 27 minutes, and five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah lost five minutes to drop back to 30.

Al-Attiyah, the only former champion with an outside title shot, got lost about nine kilometers in.

“I'm very disappointed, but what can you do?” Al-Attiyah said. “We had a good pace but we lost a lot of time. This is the most disappointing day of my life.”

Spain's Nani Roma, one of only three men to win the Dakar in a car (2014) and motorbike (2004), won his first stage in nine years by 18 seconds from Lucas Moraes of Brazil. Brian Baragwanath of South Africa was third.

Sanders on the brink

Australian rider Daniel Sanders was on the brink of his first Dakar title in a motorbike race he's dominated from stage one.

Sanders was fourth on the 116-kilometer stage but ahead of his nearest rivals, extending his overall lead by about two minutes against Spain's Tosha Schareina and France's Adrien van Beveren.

The advantage over Schareina was 16 1/2 minutes, the biggest in the race so far.

“It's pretty much survival tomorrow and just get(ting) through,” Sanders said. “I think we'll be all right. I felt really good in the navigation and I was opening a little bit and then, yeah, it felt nice. So yeah, ready for tomorrow.”

Portugal's Rui Gonçalves won his maiden stage in his fifth Dakar by nearly four minutes from Slovakia's Stefan Svitko. American Skyler Howes was third.