Forward Mohamed Salah is expected to be the central figure in Liverpool's Club World Cup semi-final against Monterrey in more ways than one.

The Egypt international is the world's most high-profile Arabic player, a figurehead for the whole community, and his appearance in Qatar has only increased interest locally.

Salah has returned to form at exactly the right time with four goals in three matches – now the club's joint top scorer with 13 – after finally fully recovering from an ankle injury initially sustained in early October which hampered his progress.

With first-half goals from Conor Hourihane, an own goal from Morgan Boyes, and a brace from Jonathan Kodjia, along with one from Wesley in second-half added-time, the scoreline flattered Villa, who were indebted to goalkeeper Orjan Nyland for making a number of superb saves.

Critchley, though, conceded to being "incredibly proud of that performance".

He added: "I don't think we did too many things wrong. We played right to the end, and we played like a Liverpool team. We couldn't have done any more."