Mohamed Salah made Liverpool goalscoring history on Thursday night when he scored the team’s early third goal in the Europa League annihilation of Sparta Prague at Anfield.

The goal itself was of little consequence on the night, with Jurgen Klopp’s side already 2-0 at the time only ten minutes into the second leg of the last 16 tie, having also already won 5-1 in the Czech capital a week earlier to all but guarantee their place in the quarter-finals.

But what it represented was far more about Salah’s Liverpool career as a whole and the remarkable consistency he has displayed since first setting foot inside Anfield in 2017.

It is the seventh consecutive season that the Egyptian superstar has reached 20 goals in all competitions, something no other player in Liverpool history has achieved. The previous record of six straight 20+-goal seasons, which Salah equalled last year, was set by 1980s legend Ian Rush.

Rush ranged from 27 to 40 goals per season between 1981 and 1987. His run was ultimately broken by an ill-fated transfer to Juventus that saw him struggle to adapt to life both on and off the pitch in Serie A. The Welsh striker then returned to Liverpool and enjoyed three more 20+-goal seasons over the course of eight years by the time he left Anfield for good in 1996 at the age of 34.

Eyebrows were raised when Liverpool spent more than £30m on Salah in 2017, returning to English football after a shortlived and unsuccessful previous spell at Chelsea. He’d restored his reputation in Italy with Roma but hit new heights with a 44-goal season straight off the bat dressed in all red.

Rush spent 15 years at Liverpool over the course of his two spells and his 346 goals is a club record. Salah is unlikely to challenge that mark unless he continues at his current scoring rate into his late thirties, although he is already in the all-time top five with 206, ahead of legends like Sir Kenny Dalglish and Robbie Fowler, as well as the only non-British player in the top ten.

*season ongoing