Mohamed Salah famously failed at Chelsea, having joined the club back in 2014. The Egyptian struggled to even play, with the winger only managing 13 Premier League appearances over the course of a calendar year.
Eventually, he'd end up at Liverpool, where Salah has gone on to become one of the greatest forwards of his generation. That has led to plenty of opportunities to show the Blues what they failed to see - in fact, he's faced Chelsea more than any other opponent.
He'll get another chance to impress as Liverpool and Chelsea meet in their Premier League opener for the 2023/24 season. As a result, Football FanCast has taken a look at Salah's overall record against the west Londoners to date.
What is Mohamed Salah's goal record against Chelsea?
Salah has played against Chelsea 21 times in his career across six different competitions. That's included spells for two clubs - Basel and Liverpool.
Overall, Salah has seven goals in those 21 games, but let's break that down a little.
Salah played in four games for Basel against Chelsea - all of which came in 2013, the year before they signed him. Unsurprisingly, the Egyptian played well in those games, scoring in three of them.
The first two games came in the Europa League. Basel lost both clashes, but Salah grabbed a goal at Stamford Bridge. He then seriously impressed in the Champions League later that year, scoring goals in home and away group-stage victories.
Those goals earned him a move to Chelsea, of course, thus Salah wouldn't face them again until he moved to Anfield in 2017. Since then, he's scored four more goals against his old club, with all coming in the Premier League.
What is Mohamed Salah's head-to-head record against Chelsea?
Salah has a positive record against Chelsea. He's won nine of his 21 meetings with them, drawing six and losing six.
His record with Basel stands dead even. There were two defeats in the Europa League in early 2013 followed by two wins in the Champions League later that same year.
With Liverpool, Salah has typically gotten the better of Chelsea. 17 games have delivered seven wins, six draws and four defeats. Though, we should add that two of those wins came in penalty shoot-outs.
What is Mohamed Salah's record at Stamford Bridge?
Okay, so we know Salah's record against Chelsea, but the next meeting comes at Stamford Bridge - how well does he do there?
In all, the forward has played nine times against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He's managed three goals in those fixtures but, interestingly, the majority of those didn't come for Liverpool.
Salah scored twice for Basel at the Blues, both coming in 2013. He's actually managed just a solitary goal for Liverpool at Stamford Bridge - in a 1-1 draw back in August 2021.
What is Mohamed Salah's record against Chelsea in the Premier League?
Salah has never actually scored for Liverpool against Chelsea outside of the Premier League. All four of his goals against them in red came in the league across 12 games. He's also provided a couple of assists, too.
Liverpool rarely lose to Chelsea when he plays, either. They've won four, drawn six and lost just twice in those fixtures.
But Salah's goals aren't necessarily good luck charms. Liverpool have drawn three of the games in which he scored, winning just one - a 2-0 win late in the 2018/19 campaign that saw him score an absolute worldie from range.
What is Mohamed Salah's record against Chelsea in finals?
Interestingly, Salah has featured against Chelsea in three finals. Not many players can say they've done that against the same club.
Even rarer is to be able to say that you've won all three, but Salah can do exactly that. To take it a step further, all the trophies came after penalty shoot-out victories.
The first came as Liverpool played out a 2-2 draw with Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup in 2019. Sadio Mané got both goals for the Reds, who would triumph 7-6 on penalties. The teams met again twice in 2022 in the EFL Cup and FA Cup finals.
Neither side managed a goal across either game, however. Both went to shoot-outs and both saw Liverpool emerge victorious.
On an individual level, though, Salah hasn't been as successful. In three finals, he's managed zero goals or assists and went off injured just 33 minutes into the 2022 FA Cup final.
Who has Mohamed Salah scored against the most?
Salah's seven goals against Chelsea is good, but it's certainly not his best record. In fact, there are eight teams against which he's managed more.
Top of that pile is Manchester United. Salah's record against them is phenomenal, scoring 12 times in 12 games and managing another four assists. Manchester City come next - 11 goals and five assists in 19 meetings.
Tottenham's 18 meetings with Salah have seen them ship 11 goals, too, along with a single assist. Meanwhile, Arsenal, West Ham United, Watford and Leeds United have all conceded nine times to the Liverpool star.
Bournemouth are the only other club to have shipped goals more often than Chelsea to the Egyptian. Salah has forced them to pick it out of the net on eight occasions.
What is Mohamed Salah's record on the opening day?
Unfortunately for Chelsea, Salah's opening-day record in the Premier League is simply incredible. It's literally as good as the league has ever seen.
In all, Salah has eight goals on opening day since arriving at Liverpool. That equals the all-time record, held jointly by Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.
But that doesn't even explain it all. Salah also has the record outright for consecutive opening days on which a player has scored - six. Those who know their stuff may also notice that he's only actually played six.
That's right - Salah has scored in every opening-day fixture he's played for Liverpool. Not only will he look to extend his own record for consecutive games, he'll also hope to break the record for overall goals.
Good luck, Chelsea.
What is Mohamed Salah's overall Liverpool goal record?
Salah was never really known as a goalscorer in his younger professional days - even his record with Basel was so-so. But once he left Chelsea for AS Roma, the Egyptian started to find his feet.
29 goals in two Serie A seasons suggested something was there, but no one could have foreseen his explosion at Liverpool. Salah immediately broke the Premier League's goalscoring record for a 38-game season, scoring 32 times in his debut campaign.
Overall, the forward heads into the upcoming campaign with 137 Premier League goals for Liverpool, all coming in 218 games. That stretches to 186 in 305 across all competitions.
What is Mohamed Salah's Premier League record?
Salah's 137 Premier League goals for Liverpool combine with the two he got for Chelsea in his brief spell there for a total of 139. It's an incredible haul - only 13 players have managed more since the start of the league in 1992.
And so, if Salah matched his lowest goals total for Liverpool in a single year (19) this coming term, he'd move onto 158 goals. That would be enough to leapfrog Michael Owen in 10th on the all-time list. No one would put it past him.
What is Liverpool's record against Chelsea?
Liverpool and Chelsea have certainly met a lot other than in Salah's time. There have been 194 meetings in total, with the first coming all the way back in 1907.
And given their history, it's of little surprise that Liverpool boast the majority of the wins in this fixture. 84 of the clashes ended in a Reds victory, with Chelsea coming out on top 65 times.
But what about just in the Premier League? That head-to-head is much closer throughout their 62 meetings. Liverpool once again come out on top, but only by 23 wins to Chelsea's 21. That leaves 18 draws since the rebranding in 1992.
What are Liverpool's recent results against Chelsea?
In what feels like a bad omen for the opening day, both Liverpool vs Chelsea fixtures finished 0-0 last season. Both teams were subpar all campaign long, of course, and both meetings reflected that as the sides struggled to find any rhythm in the games.
Actually, the worrying signs go further than that. There haven't been goals in the last four meetings between the two teams - as both cup finals in 2022 finished 0-0. Even the two meetings before that finished with draws - though, there were at least some goals.
It means you have to go all the way back to March 2021 - some seven games ago - for the last time this fixture had a winner inside 90 minutes. It was Chelsea who triumphed on that occasion as they beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield.
The last Liverpool win came in the game before that, with the Reds triumphing 2-0 at Stamford Bridge as the reigning champions back in September 2020. There have been seven games since - it's developed into quite the worrying streak.
When is Chelsea vs Liverpool?
Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday 13th August. The match will kick off at 4.30pm UK time as the two teams open their respective Premier League campaigns.
Both will hope to rebound after terrible seasons last time out - making this an absolutely massive fixture for each as they look to make an early statement.