Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah told to shave his ‘terrorist beard’

Fans were quick to jump to his defence.

An Egyptian newspaper has published an open-ed article calling for Liverpool forward Mo Salah to shave his beard, because it “puts him in one basket with extremists.... and terrorists.” The bizarre article was penned by columnist Salah Montaser on Sunday and he was quite rightly hit with an immediate backlash. The paper, unsurprisingly, is run by the state. The article, posted above, was met with a furious reaction on social media from Egyptian football fans, who responded by saying that people shouldn't be judged on their personal appearance and that what he does with his facial hair is of course his own choice. Salah is a revered figure in his native Egypt, especially after firing an injury-time penalty in October to send the country to their first World Cup since 1990 in dramatic fashion. He's also taken the Premier League by storm this season, as if you weren't aware of that already, scoring 24 goals in just 27 starts and making him the joint-top scorer along with Harry Kane. Keep the beard and keep scoring bangers Mo, you beautiful, beautiful man. https://twitter.com/k_dreads1/status/973315242607464448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.101greatgoals.com%2Fnews%2Fmohamed-salah-shave-terrorist-beard%2F