Mohamed Salah’s selfie celebration during Liverpool’s Premier League title-clinching win over Tottenham Hotspur has become an iconic moment.
The Egyptian scored the Reds’ fourth goal in Sunday’s 5-1 victory at Anfield and, after celebrating his strike, borrowed a phone from a staff member before taking a photograph of himself and the cheering Liverpool fans behind him.
But some have asked could it have been a marketing idea, because the phone Salah used is made by one of Liverpool’s sponsors.
“At the beginning of the season I always take selfies with players [who score], so for this one I said ‘OK, I have to think of something special because it’s a picture that’s going to be there forever’,” Salah told BBC Sport.
Salah, 32, has frequently posted selfies with Reds team-mates on social media, while his recent two-year contract extension announcement included a self-taken photograph.
Initially observers thought Salah had taken the phone off a fan in the crowd, but it was a Liverpool staff member located behind the advertising hoardings in front of the Kop.
The photograph, which Salah and Liverpool posted on their social media accounts, has millions of likes and views.
But it has courted some controversy with observers wondering if it was a natural celebration, or an advert for Google Pixel, an official partner of the club.
In response, others have pointed out they could not know Salah would have scored – and none of the first three goalscorers did this celebration – although it was his 33rd goal of the season so not much of a surprise.
Various Liverpool players have taken part in adverts for Google this season on social media and TV.