LONDON: There must be times when Jose Mourinho feels everything is conspiring against him. As if it weren’t bad enough that his Manchester United are playing grouchy, tempo-less football and that their position in second place in the league seems to be regarded by many as an inexplicable freak. But added is the fact that the sides immediately above and below him in the table are led by players he let go.
Whatever the specifics of the departures of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah from Chelsea, their success must feel like an ongoing rebuke: Mourinho is being undone by players he either did not rate or did not have the political fight to keep.
Perhaps De Bruyne was never Mourinho’s type of player — too keen to play the extra pass, too keen to elaborate, not just to do the simple thing. Salah, however, quick, direct and capable, it turns out, of scoring hatfuls of goals, is just Mourinho’s sort of player. But perhaps that is unfair. For one thing, Salah was competing for a place with Willian and Eden Hazard and then, when Cesc Fabregas arrived, with Oscar, who moved out to the flank. And there was nothing in his career at that point, or even subsequently at Fiorentina or Roma, to suggest the player he would become.
Salah scored goals — 35 in 71 Serie A starts as well as 20 assists — but at nothing like the rate he has this season: 28 goals and nine assists in 28 starts. These are otherworldly, epochal figures and would seem even more extraordinary if he didn’t play in an era in which Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had redefined the parameters of the reasonable.
The Messi comparison, in particular, keeps being made, which is perhaps a little unfair. He is not Messi, nowhere near him, but then no one is. It is enough, surely, to be one of the greatest of the mortals, a player who will go head-to-head with De Bruyne for the player of the year awards (a prediction: De Bruyne will win Players’ Player of the Year because it is voted for so early in the season and De Bruyne was at his peak in the key period of late autumn and early winter; Salah has a better chance in the Footballer Writers’ Player of the Year, even though that award tends to go to a player from the side that has won the title).
The reason for the shift is a change of role. Jurgen Klopp must take credit for that, but he admits that there was no great plan to convert Salah when he was signed. “He (Salah) played more on the wing in Rome where he had a very dominant striker in (Edin) Dzeko,” he said last week. “Nobody could know (that he could play as a goalscorer). We learnt it step by step. Without consistency, we couldn’t know for certain, but in the pre-season, we knew.”
The key to Salah is Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian has scored 14 goals and registered seven assists this season, but his greatest asset may be his capacity to get out of the way. He is one of those rare players who seems to revel in being the facilitator of a goal rather than the executor, constantly dropping deep and pulling defenders out of the way to create space for Salah.
And as Sir Alex Ferguson observed, taking about Wayne Rooney’s change of role in 2008-09 when he played wide in a fluid front three with Carlos Tevez and Ronaldo, attacking on the diagonal gives a forward an advantage anyway. In part it is about an inverted wide man cutting in onto his stronger foot against the weaker foot of the full-back, but it is also about simple geometry.
On a crowded pitch, the most valuable resource is space in the attacking third: If a player is running on a diagonal, attacking on the hypotenuse, he has created a little more acceleration room than there would be attacking in a straight line.
Why then, if there is such an advantage in attacking from wide, do so few teams do it? The difficulty is not just finding a player who can do what Salah can do, but also finding one to play with him who is willing and able to perform Firmino’s role.
Mohamed Salah is showing the folly of Jose Mourinho’s decision to allow him to leave Chelsea
Mohamed Salah is showing the folly of Jose Mourinho’s decision to allow him to leave Chelsea
Freddy Schott wins maiden title after 3-way Bahrain Championship playoff
- The German beat Calum Hill and Patrick Reed after they all finished on 17-under after 72 holes
BAHRAIN: Freddy Schott won his first DP World Tour title after beating Calum Hill and Patrick Reed in a playoff at the 2026 Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship on Sunday.
The trio were locked together at 17-under par after 72 holes. This was after Reed shot 67 on Sunday to make up a four-shot overnight deficit to Hill, who began day two clear but had to settle for a 71 after a bogey. Schott carded 69 to join the pair.
Reed bogeyed the first playoff hole to drop out of contention and after Hill went out of bounds second time round, before sending his fourth shot into the water, he sportingly conceded without making Schott putt for the win.
Schott, who was presented with the trophy by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, said: “I have no idea. It’s just amazing, I’m just extremely happy, surprised ... I don’t know what’s happening right now. I’m just so happy.
“I could have done it the regular way, that would have also been fine. But to do it this way feels even more special so I’m just glad it happened this way.”
Hill, who equaled the course record of 61 in Friday’s second round, added to his two-shot overnight lead with an opening birdie after a superb approach, with Schott responding at the second before both players birdied the next.
The Scot was four clear after another gain at the fifth but bogeyed the sixth while Schott made birdie, cutting the lead to one before drawing level with a birdie at the next.
Schott bogeyed the eighth but led anyway as Hill made a double, and a birdie at the 10th took the German two ahead, only for a double-bogey of his own at the 11th to leave the pair all square again.
“It was tough, especially towards the end,” said Schott.
“The start was okay, because I was playing alright. It had good flow to it. Obviously, nerves kicked in from the back nine onwards. I was happy that I managed it okay, not perfect, but okay, and you guys saw what happened, so I’m very happy now.
Sergio Garcia had joined the leaders by that point after responding to an opening bogey with three birdies in four holes from the third and another three in succession from the ninth, as had Reed after his fifth gain of the day at the 12th.
Daniel Hillier carded six birdies in a blemish-free 66, his second six-under-par round of the week, to set the clubhouse target at 16-under as the leaders still on the course battled for supremacy.
Schott, Hill and Reed all reached 18-under with back-to-back birdies, Reed at the 13th and 14th with his rivals a hole behind.
Garcia’s challenge was left hanging by a thread after a double-bogey at the par-five 14th, as he eventually finished alongside Hillier on 16-under, and Reed dropped a shot at the 16th.
Schott and Hill missed the 17th green to the left before escaping with good chips, but while Hill holed his par putt, Schott made bogey.
Reed set a new clubhouse target of 17-under but when his birdie putt at the last agonizingly stayed up on the short side, Hill had a one-shot lead down the last.
But he sent his approach to the extreme left of the green, leaving a nasty putt up the slope by the side of the green which he was unable to get close. Schott was in similar territory but closer in, allowing him to save par while Hill made bogey to set up the playoff.
Reed found the bunker with his 73rd tee shot and went from there to the edge of another, with Schott and Hill both hitting the fairway and then the heart of the green.
Schott holed for par and despite a superb effort at his up-and-down, Reed was unable to respond and dropped out of contention. Hill held his nerve as he and Schott went back to the tee.
The Scot sent his next tee-shot out of bounds to the left, with Schott only just avoiding the water in response. He sent his approach right of the green but Hill found the water with his fourth and conceded after Schott chipped on.
Hill and Reed shared second with Garcia and Hillier fourth and France’s Ugo Coussaud a shot further back in sixth.
The championship provided invaluable experience for emerging golfers, with local players gaining exposure competing alongside Major champions and multiple DP World Tour winners.
Ahmed Alzayed, Ali Alkowari and Khalifa Almaraisi all teed it up at Royal Golf Club this week, with former Masters champions Garcia and Reed, and three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington.
While the cut proved elusive, the experience of competing at the highest level of professional golf will prove invaluable.
“The competition comes to an end, but it’s not the end for me, I think it’s just the beginning,” said Alkowari.
“I’m happy with the result this year. I played 20 shots better than last year, so there are improvements. Hopefully, if I’m playing next year, it will be even better. Who knows, maybe even making the cut.”
A record crowd of 13,186, a 30 percent increase on last year’s attendance, watched the action across the four days.
