Mohamed Salah sends a message to Liverpool critics and makes Diogo Jota claim

Mohamed Salah has vowed to continue to ignore the groans and believes Diogo Jota is making life easier for Liverpool’s celebrated front three.

Salah is expected to be in contention for Atalanta’s Champions League visit on Wednesday after losing the weekend win over Leicester City after testing positive for coronavirus.

The Egyptian is hoping to continue his scoring form after scoring 10 goals in 13 games – his best start to the season at Liverpool.

Eight made it into the Premier League with Salah in the first run for the Golden Shoe award which he won outright in 2018 and shared 12 months later.

And when asked what his hopes were for a personal hat-trick, the Reds striker had a message for his critics.

“I think it’s hard to do it the first time, but it’s harder to do it the second time and even harder to do it the third time,” Salah said.

“Some people will always complain. They’ll say ‘he’s good at this but he’s not good at that part’.

“You just need to go ahead and do your thing and I’m very proud to do it.

“Goals, assists … I feel good and even if it’s a little bit more difficult, it’s our job and we have to go out there and perform.

“It was important to win those individual awards, but I always say Premier League, Champions League and team trophies come first.

“The ambition for me is to win both. We won the Champions League alone and then the Premier League last season. My ambition is to win both (in the same season).”

In Salah’s absence, Diogo Jota played on the right flank against Leicester and scored the second goal for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

The Portuguese has now scored eight times in 12 appearances since his initial £ 41 million transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And Salah believes the new guy has already helped ease the burden on himself and strike partners Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

“We are happy for him,” she said. “As teammates we try to push each other every day in training, so seeing someone come in and score goals you feel happy for them too because you feel that they will help your team and make it easier for us to come up front.

“Hopefully it will happen again and again and again. Scoring a few goals is a good way for him to start here, hopefully with confidence.

“Having someone else who can score goals is a great option for us. Now with Diogo we can play four together or we could still play three.”

Liverpool’s win put them on equal points with early Premier League leaders Tottenham Hotspur, with just seven points covering the top 12.

The matches are still played behind closed doors, although the Reds could welcome up to 4,000 fans to Anfield from next month based on new government proposals.

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And speaking to Liverpool’s official matchday schedule, Salah said: “This season has been crazy. The number of goals I never expected and playing without fans is obviously crazy.

“I think the fans make a big difference, you know. Fans give the games a different vibe and give you a different motivation, so I can say this is the main reason for some crazy results.

“There is also a bit of pressure for us because Virgil (van Dijk) has played all the games in the last few years, but now he’s injured. Meanwhile, other players have to perform. I think the youngsters have done well.”