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Egyptian star Mohamed Salah led his Turkish team, Trabzonspor, to a valuable 4-2 victory over their hosts, Finland's KuPS Kuopio, on Thursday, as part of the first round of the league phase in the UEFA Conference League.
Salah contributed to the victory by scoring a goal and providing an assist, giving his team a strong start in their continental campaign before hosting Scotland's Hearts in the next round on October 22.
Trabzonspor started the match strongly, as Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu opened the scoring in the third minute, capitalizing on a decisive pass from Salah, who wore the captain's armband in the absence of the injured defender Stefan Savic.
One minute before the end of the first half, Salah extended the Turkish team's lead by scoring the second goal, after capitalizing on a rebound from the opponent's defense and firing it powerfully into the top of the net, ending the first half with his team leading 2-0.
At the start of the second half, substitute Franculino Dju added the third goal for Trabzonspor in the 47th minute, putting the Turkish team in a comfortable position.
However, the hosts narrowed the gap in the 54th minute through Petteri Pennanen, and 5 minutes later, his Polish teammate Piotr Parzyszek missed a penalty kick saved by Cameroonian goalkeeper André Onana.
Dju returned to score the fourth goal for the Turkish team in the first minute of stoppage time, confirming the visitors' superiority, and two minutes later, Gustav Engvall scored the second goal for KuPS Kuopio, with the match ending in a 4-2 victory for Trabzonspor.
With this result, Trabzonspor collected their first three points in the league phase to temporarily top the standings, while the Finnish team remained without points.
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