Mohamed Salah Seeks First Victory as Trabzonspor Fall to Ferencvaros in Europa League Play-off

Mohamed Salah is still searching for his first win as a Trabzonspor player after the Turkish club suffered a home defeat in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.

Kristoffer Zachariassen scored the game's only goal, heading a cross from Oliver Nagy into the bottom left corner past Trabzonspor goalkeeper Andre Onana, giving Ferencvaros a 1-0 lead to defend in next week's home leg in Hungary. The winner will earn a place in the Europa League league phase, while the loser will drop into the Europa Conference League.

It was a first outing for Salah in front of the Trabzon fans at Papara Park, with 32,569 supporters hoping to see their new superstar signing in action. The Super Lig side dominated possession, but lost despite having 23 shots at goal to Ferencvaros' eight.

Salah was handed his first start by coach Fatih Tekke. The former Liverpool forward, who joined the club on a free transfer over the summer by signing a two-year deal, had several chances to open his account, but failed to find the net. He came closest to equalising in the 55th minute, when Paul Onuachu's header from a Noah Saviolo cross struck the crossbar and then Dibusz's back before Salah headed the rebound towards goal, only for a Ferencvaros defender to clear it off the line.

The 34-year-old Egyptian played the full 90 minutes and also created several chances for teammates. Trabzon will be without defender Chibuike Nwaiwu for the second leg after the Nigerian was sent off in the sixth minute of added time for violent conduct.