Salah opens his account for Turkish Trabzonspor with a brace against Basaksehir

Mohamed Salah scored a goal in each half to lead Trabzonspor to a 2-1 victory over visitors Basaksehir, as the Egyptian captain opened his scoring account in the Turkish Super League and had two other goals disallowed by the referee on Sunday.

After coming off the bench in the opening round draw against Kasimpasa, and starting in the 1-0 defeat to Ferencváros in the first leg of the Europa League playoff, Salah needed just eight minutes in his first start in the domestic competition to score his first goal.

Salah capitalized on Basaksehir goalkeeper Muhammed Şenizger’s failure to control a cross, finishing into the net. The goal was confirmed after a review by the Video Assistant Referee, which verified that the ball had crossed the goal line.

Uzbekistan’s Eldor Shomurodov equalized for the visitors from a penalty in the 19th minute, ending the first half at 1-1, before Salah delivered a stunning performance after the break.

The former Liverpool star restored Trabzonspor’s lead just three minutes after the restart, exchanging passes with Ernest Moutchi and firing a low shot with his instep in his customary style into the far corner.

Salah believed he had been fouled by Basaksehir defender Emin Bayram, but the referee showed him a yellow card for simulation in the 79th minute.

Stoppage time was highly dramatic, as Salah thought he had scored his third goal, but the referee disallowed it due to an infringement at the start of the play.

Moments later, Salah scored again with a brilliant strike from the middle of the pitch into an empty net, as Şenizger had advanced upfield during a corner kick for his team, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Salah celebrated with the fans after the final whistle. Trabzonspor will visit Ferencváros for the second leg of the Europa League playoff next Thursday.