From farming village to Liverpool icon - the Salah story

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This is where it all began for one of the world's most prolific forwards - a player who propelled Liverpool to the Premier League title in May.It was on the streets of Nagrig where a seven-year-old Salah, external would play football with his friends, pretending to be Brazil striker Ronaldo, France's legendary playmaker Zinedine Zidane or Italian maestro Francesco Totti."Mohamed was small compared to his team-mates, but he was doing things even the older boys couldn't manage," Ghamry Abd El-Hamid El-Saadany says as he points to the artificial pitch which is now named in Salah's honour."His shots were incredibly powerful, and it was obvious that he had determination and drive."Salah, 33, is about to embark on his ninth season at Liverpool, where the winger has scored a remarkable 245 goals in 402 league and cup appearances since joining in 2017.Egypt's first global football superstar has won every domestic honour as well as the Champions League with the Reds, but has yet to taste success with his country.With the Africa Cup of Nations in December and the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, BBC Sport visited Egypt to discover what Salah means to the people of the football-mad country of 115 million, and how a small boy from humble beginnings became a national icon."I still feel my father's joy when I watch Salah," says Lamisse El-Sadek, at the Dentists Cafe in the east of Cairo. That's one reason people love them so much."The youth centre has been given an impressive upgrade recently in tribute to the village's most famous son, and the green playing surface would not look out of place at a professional training ground."They [Salah's family] made many sacrifices when he was young," says El-Saadany, who is standing next to a huge photograph that hangs behind one of the goals, showing Salah with the Champions League trophy."They were incredibly supportive from the very beginning, especially his father and his uncle, who is actually chairman of this centre."Salah's footprint is everywhere in Nagrig, where children run around wearing Liverpool and Egypt shirts with the player's name and number on the back.There is a mural of Salah outside his old school, while a tuk-tuk rushes past beeping its horn with a large sticker of the player smiling on the front.In the heart of Nagrig is the barber's shop where a teenage Salah would get his hair cut after training."I'm the one who gave him that curly hairstyle and the beard," says Ahmed El Masri."His friends told him not to get his hair cut here because we're from a village not a city, but he'd always come to me.

The next day his friends would be surprised [at how good he looked] and ask him 'who's your barber?'."The hairdresser recalls watching Salah's skills at the youth centre and on the streets of the village."The big thing I remember most is that when we all played PlayStation, Salah would always choose to be Liverpool," he adds. He handed Salah his senior Egypt debut in October 2011 when he was interim manager of the national side.He was also in charge of the Egypt Under-23 team that Salah played in at the London 2012 Olympics."I also had to take buses and walk five or six kilometres to get to my first club of Al Ahly and my father couldn't afford football boots for me," adds Ramzy."Salah playing at the top level and staying at the top level for so many years was 100% shaped by this because this kind of life builds strong players."Driving into Cairo over one of its busiest bridges, a huge electronic billboard flicks from an ice cream advert to a picture of Salah next to the Arabic word 'shukran', which means 'thank you'.Waiting at a nearby office is Diaa El-Sayed, one of the most influential coaches in Salah's early career.He was the coach when Salah made his first impact on the global stage, at the 2011 Under-20 World Cup in Colombia."The country wasn't stable, there was a revolution, so preparing for the tournament was tough for us," says the man everyone calls 'Captain Diaa'."Salah came with us and the first thing that stood out was his speed and that he was always concentrating.

But I was the first coach who told him not to defend."Egypt's 'greatest ambassador'Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured."I even had calls from Egypt's Minister of Health," recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team's medic, about the time Salah suffered a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool's defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later."I told him not to panic, everything is going well."Speaking from his medical clinic in the Maadi area of Egypt's capital, Dr Aboud adds: "I was younger and the pressure from inside the country was intense."I had calls from so many people trying to help. "I love to feel that people depend on me and Salah is the same."At the time of our visit, a classroom lesson for young players about the mindset required to become a top professional is taking place.Underneath Salah's name on a whiteboard, one of the coaches has written "discipline, dedication and motivation"."The reason Salah is where he is now is because he works on his mental strength daily," Mido adds."He is the greatest ambassador for Egypt and for African players as well.