🔴 Blood Red: Inside Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson's emotional Liverpool farewells

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The Premier League season is over after a 1-1 draw with Brentford confirmed Liverpool’s place in the Champions League.

I was in attendance at Anfield for the emotional farewell for Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson. I’ve jotted down some thoughts and some of the things you might’ve missed from the match.

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Mohamed Salah stood in front of the Kop, soaking up the adulation as the Liverpool fans cherished the Egyptian King for the final time.

The 33-year-old, overcome by emotion throughout the afternoon on Sunday, received his Anfield farewell when he was replaced by Jeremie Frimpong during the 1-1 draw with Brentford.

A makeshift guard of honour took place and he got on all fours, kissing the turf, before shaking Arne Slot’s hand and taking his place on the bench.

Andy Robertson received a similar reception as he walked off the pitch for the final time as a Liverpool player.

Thousands remained at Anfield, long after Darren England blew the full-time whistle, with Salah and Robertson posing for pictures and signing autographs with fans.

By the time Salah had reached the Liverpool dugout, where Slot sat alone, Robertson emerged from the sea of supporters in front of the Kop by the scoreboard while the players’ families took to the pitch.

On another day, maybe their children would have stolen the headlines, Salah’s eldest Makka continued her goalscoring streak in front of the Kop. Kayan tried her luck with her effort stopping short on the line but she powered the ball home.

Meanwhile onlookers got to see the next generation of Robertsons, his son showcased his ability. The youngster scored a long-range effort with his right-foot (?!) and his left wasn’t too bad either. Though, he felt the power of his left foot when his strike crashed off the post and cannoned off his own head. Those behind the Kop goal were also forced to duck for cover as the young Robertson fired efforts over the bar.

It was particularly interesting to see Virgil van Dijk on his haunches, having stood back by the halfway line with Joe Gomez during the early stages of the farewell.

The Dutchman sat by the centre circle watching Salah face the Kop with his two daughters while, rather fittingly, Robertson was with his family on the left - a position he has excelled in and etched himself in Premier League history as one of the best full-backs.

A period of reflection, perhaps? Two of the teammates which he achieved so much with, will not be in the dressing room come the return for pre-season. Was he thinking about how this is the end of their cycle and a new dawn is approaching for Liverpool? After all, he could be in their position in 12 months time.

The Liverpool captain was soon swarmed by his own children who tackled him as they ran onto the pitch.

It was a nice moment for Premier League and Champions League-winning captain Jordan Henderson as he received a rapturous reception before kick-off, after his substitution and as he performed his own guard of honour.

Henderson said: “Coming back here was emotional for me. The reaction when I went off was incredible - I had goosebumps. It was nice to come back and see the fans. My family is here.”

The Liverpool chiefs were in attendance as well on Sunday with Julian Ward opting to remain in the stands during the post-match ceremony. Pitchside, CEO Billy Hogan was alongside sporting director Richard Hughes.

Supporting Andy Robertson was his Scotland international teammates Liam Cooper and Kenny McClean who sat in the stands watching on as the man of the moment got to the end of his final hurrah.

Slot entered the press room for his post-match press conference almost relieved that the torment of the season was over. With journalists spread across the room and in the mixed zone, the Dutchman made a light-hearted joke as he sat down. He said: “Wow, no one here. No one’s interested?”

He added: “We, I haven’t been perfect, but I would have answered this question exactly the same in the year we won the league because as a manager you can never be perfect [and] a player can never be perfect.

“But all the decisions I’ve made throughout the whole season has been only with one idea, and that’s being very well prepared. So, all the decisions I made were never made from, ‘Oh, I have no time, let’s make a decision like this.’

“No, I thought about it really well and as you know, not every decision can be the right one so it would be stupid for me to sit here and say all the decisions I’ve made were the right ones. But before I made them, it every time felt they were the right ones to make.

“But a lot of times I didn’t even have to make decisions or choices because this [game] was maybe the first time this season that there were no Academy players on our bench - and that has been an exception. So, if you asked me one word to describe this season, I would describe that with the word ‘injury’.”

It would have been easy to forget that there was a football match on but it was sweltering. There were bagpipes playing as the bus approached Anfield with fans lining the streets to welcome the Liverpool players.

Off the pitch and in the press box, there were two Brentford members of staff and they got gradually more irate as the game continued. They slammed the press bench in anger late on when play was stopped due to Ibrahima Konate’s head injury while they were out of their seats after Dango Ouattara missed a header in stoppage-time, should that have gone in, Brentford would have qualified for Europe.

BELOW: Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson’s final moments on pitch as Liverpool players

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