Liverpool centre-back Virgil Van Dijk has dispelled the rumours circling Mohamed Salah's quiet goal celebrations in recent weeks.
The Egyptian forward has scored six goals in his last six games for the Reds, replicating the form that he demonstrated in his debut season at Anfield last year.
Salah scored the winner against Napoli in mid-week to send Liverpool into the last sixteen of the Champions League, three days after bagging a hat-trick at Bournemouth in a 4-0 victory.
Yet many supporters have noticed that the 26-year-old has not been celebrating finding the back of the net as vigorously during this campaign, leading to claims that he may be unhappy with the criticism he has received for his early-season form.
However, speaking to the Daily Star, Van Dijk denied any suggestion that Salah's celebrations have any real meaning, expressing that: "He's scoring goals. He's smiling.
"He can't smile every second of the day but he's enjoying it I think.
"He's scoring goals, he's working hard, defensively as well.
"We don't need to see any negative things about that (goal celebration) so we just need to focus on the good things."
The FIFA Puskas winner has scored 34 goals in all competitions for the Reds in 2018 and is widely considered to be one of the best players in England.
But a run that saw Salah only score three goals in his first eight games at the start of this year's campaign led to critics questioning whether he could perform as consistently as last season.
Van Dijk has rebuked these claims with the Dutch defender declaring that: "He's (Salah) been doing very well. People can say he's not scoring as much goals as last year, but that's always the media.
"People underestimate how strong he is. He's a very important player, great guy and is deadly in the box."
Salah will be hoping to add to his tally of ten Premier League goals this season when Liverpool take on arch-rivals Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.
A victory for Jurgen Klopp's side would see them reclaim the lead at the top of the table from Manchester City who beat Everton 3-1 on Saturday.
Source : 90min