Mohamed Salah won the Premier League Golden Boot for the third time since joining Liverpool after coming off the bench to score against Wolves on the final day of last season. Having broken the league record for most goals in a campaign after scoring 32 times when winning it for the first time in 2017/18, he’d then share it with Sadio Mane and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang the following year after scoring 22 goals.
After missing out by a solitary goal to Harry Kane in 2020/21, the Egyptian bounced back last season to top-score with 23 goals, however, he again had to make do with sharing the award as Heung-min Son’s brace on the final day of the season saw him match the 30-year-old’s tally.
Salah had been the runaway leader for most of the season, having scored 16 goals from 21 appearances prior to the Africa Cup of Nations. However, he netted seven times following his return, with three coming from the penalty spot, as Son scored 12 goals from his final 10 appearances of the season to ensure the duo finished level.
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And the South Korean could even have won the award outright, after Antonio Conte told his players at half-time to pass Son the ball to aid his chances with Spurs already 2-0 up and confident of finishing in the top four. Meanwhile, his second goal against Norwich saw him overtake Salah before the Liverpool man scored late on against Wolves.
While the forward would score a brace at Carrow Road, he could have clinched the Golden Boot for himself with a hat-trick when Dejan Kulusevski rounded goalkeeper Tim Krul and was presented with an open goal. Caught in two minds, the Sweden international tried to square the ball to his team-mate for a tap-in only to miskick his pass, with Norwich clearing the ball off the line as the chance went begging for Son.
With Son yet to score at the time, with it being Kulusevski and Kane who had given them a 2-0 lead, the Swede was left cursing himself and understandably felt embarrassed following the wasted opportunity which could have proven costly for his fellow forward.
“Two minutes before the goal (Kulusevski’s second goal and Tottenham’s third), there was a weird situation,” he recalled on the DÅ ÄR VI IGÅNG podcast . “I was free with the goalkeeper. A lot of things went down.
“A guy tackled me. I’m alone with the goalkeeper. I was thinking ‘Should I lay down? He’s going to get sent off.’ But I was like ‘No, I have to score of course.’
“So their keeper comes out and then hesitates. So I realise that I’m going to get there first. So I run past him. I have an empty goal in front of me. I was like ‘Man, this is awkward’ I don’t really like to have an open goal.
“And the fans are right next to me, you know. They are shouting ‘Gimme, gimme’ right next to me. I’m like ‘Take a deep breath. Take your time, Dejan. You have an open goal’.
“I’m staring at it, you know it’s definitely empty! But I take one more touch. Then I think ‘Now maybe it is time to finally shoot’.
“But then I see Son. I see my teammate Son. He is like ‘Pass me the ball!’ He needs one more goal to win the Golden Boot. And we all have said before the game that we need to pass to Son. You know Son has to win the Golden Boot.
“So I’m like ‘Dejan, forget about the goal you have to assist Son’. I pass the ball and when I pass the ball I get stuck in the ground. So it becomes a wrong touch and the ball just rolls slowly towards the goal and they clear the ball at the goalline.
“And I just stand there after and think ‘Bro…Dejan… What the f**k are you doing?’ I’m thinking ‘You are the biggest idiot’. And I felt so ashamed.
“And I got so frustrated and was like give me the ball again. Then two minutes later I get the ball again and then I don’t think at all I just put the ball in the top corner.”
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