Mohamed Salah scored a brace in his first Turkish Super Lig start for Trabzonspor – and almost had a hat-trick – as they beat Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 last night.
For Super Eagles striker, Paul Onuachu, who was Goal King of the Turkish Super Lig last season with 22 goals, the pressure has started building as his goals have dried up this new season. Onuachu has now failed to score in seven straight league games since the tail end of last season. Salah played behind him in the Trabzonspor set up yesterday.
According to Fotomac, Trabzonspor Coach Fatih Tekke and his assistants have met with Onuachu on his goals drought, while the more experienced players in the team like Salah and Stefan Savic are doing everything to boost his confidence.
The 34-year-old Egypt forward left Liverpool on a free transfer this summer, having scored 257 goals for the club in nine years.
Having initially been expected to move to Saudi Arabia, he instead joined the Turkish team on a two-year deal, earning £280,000 a week.
This was his third appearance for Trabzonspor, having come off the bench against Kasimpasa last weekend and started in their Europa League play-off first-leg defeat by Ferencvaros.
And he got off the mark for his new club after taking the ball off away goalkeeper Muhammed Sengezer before scoring via a deflection and the inside of the post.
After Eldor Shomurodov had levelled from the spot, Salah restored his side’s lead with a first-time finish from 10 yards out.
The veteran was shown a yellow card for diving when going down in the box with 11 minutes to go.
And he thought he had a hat-trick in injury time when he scored into an empty net from 45 yards but he was ruled offside.