Liverpool wing wizard Mohamed Salah broke a club goalscoring record and emulated the legendary Lionel Messi in the Reds' 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Arne Slot's men missed the chance to open up a 10-point lead over Arsenal at the summit of the top-flight table, although the league leaders have at least gone eight clear having played a game more.
None other than the scintillating Salah kicked off the goal-fest early doors, when Villa right-back Andres Garcia played an atrocious pass back towards his goalkeeper, which was immediately intercepted by Diogo Jota.
The Portugal international laid off Salah for a simple tap-in, which marked the 32-year-old's 15th away goal of the Premier League season, Liverpool's most in one campaign in the competition.
Salah's previous total of 14 matched Luis Suarez's tally from the 2013-14 season, but the ex-Chelsea man is now in another category of his own as he continues to lead the way in the Premier League Golden Boot race.
Salah matches Messi feat in Villa draw
© Imago
Salah's simple opener was not a sign of things to come for Liverpool, who were pegged back by Youri Tielemans's leveller and then fell behind to an Ollie Watkins strike on the stroke of the break.
However, the Reds' star man inevitably came up with another crucial contribution to save his side's bacon, teeing up Trent Alexander-Arnold to fire in a leveller with the aid of a heavy deflection off of Tyrone Mings.
Salah's helper at Villa Park means that he has now scored and assisted in 10 separate Premier League games this season, the first player to do so in one of Europe's big-five leagues since Messi (11) in the 2014-15 campaign for Barcelona.
In addition, the Egypt international has also become just the third man to assist 10 Premier League goals away from home in a single campaign, following in the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas and Muzzy Izzet.
Salah is still on course for a Premier League Golden Boot and Playmaker Award double, now sitting on an astounding 24 goals and 15 assists in one of the most productive campaigns of his career so far.
Virgil van Dijk rues missed chances after Liverpool drop two points
© Imago
However, the likes of Jota and Darwin Nunez could not take a leaf out of Salah's book, as the pair were both guilty of missing golden chances to snatch a win for Liverpool in the West Midlands.
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk rued his side's wasted opportunities when speaking to TNT Sports at full time, saying: "A bit disappointed but we fight. We had chances to win the game, took a bit of a risk at the end so it got more open at times. We take a point and move on and focus on a big one at the weekend, again.
"In possession we did quite well, created good opportunities to score the second. Disappointing to concede from a set-piece. We tried everything and unfortunately it wasn't enough for three points."
Liverpool now prepare for a blockbuster battle with Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon, prior to which Arsenal can close the gap to five points by beating London rivals West Ham United on Saturday.
The Reds will hope to welcome Cody Gakpo back from injury in time for the clash with the champions, who will come into the weekend having been dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in the playoffs.
Ben Knapton
