Mohamed Salah’s reaction after Declan Rice said Arsenal have “come 2nd three years in a row” during his interview at the PFA awards ceremony has gone viral. The Egyptian King was named Men’s Player of the Year for a record-breaking third time on Tuesday night, while four of his Liverpool teammates featured in the Premier League Team of the Year.

Arsenal were also well represented on the night, with Rice included in the team alongside centre-back duo Gabriel and William Saliba. Elsewhere, the Gunners’ women’s side also enjoyed a field day, picking up individual honours after lifting the Champions League. See below:

But for Liverpool supporters, one moment that was quickly picked up on was Salah’s reaction to Rice’s comment about Mikel Arteta’s side finishing runners-up three years on the spin. While it often felt like Arsenal would be the ones to finally end Manchester City’s dominance in recent years, the Arne Slot revolution had other ideas last season, and Salah couldn’t seem to hide his delight at that fact.

Salah’s Reaction To Rice Interview Goes Viral

“It’s been really tough, coming second three years in a row,” Rice said. “But I’ve said it before, in life you’ve got to go through some small losses in order to win, and we’re going to keep going, we’re going to keep pushing, and hopefully something can come for us.”

As Rice mentioned the three runner-up finishes, Salah bowed his head and appeared to turn slightly to his left, where the champions’ captain, Virgil van Dijk, was standing. Watch his reaction below:

The video, which also appears to show that Salah very much had a delayed reaction, has generated a big reaction on social media. While some claim the 33-year-old couldn’t contain his emotions, others immediately downplayed such claims by reminding them about how gracious last season’s Golden Boot winner is in all situations.

“Mo is trying so hard to be professional and not burst out laughing,” one X user said, before another responded: “Mo would never do that. He knows how difficult it is to win! Stop attracting unnecessary hate towards him for a few likes.” Elsewhere, a third user suggested “there must be some inside jokes” between Van Dijk and Salah, as a fourth remarked:

Far more users jumped to Salah’s defence, though, with another user explaining: “Probably because they can relate doubt it’s malicious,” and another adding: “Immediately = about 10 seconds later.”

Another angle has since emerged, showing Van Dijk with a big smile on his face during the interview. Watch the footage below:

In his own interview, Salah did tip Arsenal to win the Premier League this season, citing the fact most of their players have been together for a lot longer as the primary reason.

“I think you have a great team this season,” he said. “You have a really good chance. I think you are favourites now because you have players that have been together for five years.”