Mohamed Salah made his return to Liverpool against Brighton on Saturday, while Hugo Ekitike benefited from an assist from his team-mate at Anfield.
Manager Hugo Ekitike praised Mohamed Salah, who returned to the Liverpool squad on Saturday, as a “great professional”. Salah was brought on as an early substitute against Brighton a day after a falling out between the two sides over Arne Slott’s explosive comments last weekend.
Salah, who did not come on as a substitute in the 3-3 draw with Leeds, went on to lash out at reporters, accusing Slott of throwing him under the bus, although he said he no longer had any relationship with the Liverpool manager. He was then left out of the squad for Tuesday’s game against Inter Milan, but returned for the game against Brighton.
Due to an injury to Joe Gomez, Slott was replaced by Salah in the 26th minute and responded with an assist to seal a 2–0 win. Ekitike were the beneficiaries of a pinpoint corner kick, which put Liverpool ahead in the first minute.
And the Frenchman was clear in his assessment of his teammates after the match. “Mohamed is a great, great professional,” he said. “I look at him as a role model, you can see how involved he is with goals and assists.
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“He’s a legend here. It’s a blessing to share the pitch with him. Players like that make us want to watch football.”
Ektike’s second header of the match came free at the back post in the 60th minute. It was Salah who took the corner kick, and Ekitike added: “He gave me a great ball. I just had to be in a good position. It was easy to finish. He gave me a great ball. I just had to be in a good position. It was easy to finish.”
“We were aiming for a hat-trick, but that will be for another time. The two goals were good. We are trying to be united and work together. It wasn’t easy today. We had to stay compact and stay united. We didn’t get the hat-trick.”
“I think we deserve it. We’ve had a great week and let’s keep going. If you play Liverpool, you just have to win games. We are Liverpool and we have to win.”
Asked about Salah, Slott said: “I think he was a threat. He almost assisted (Alexis) Mac Allister with his first touch of the ball. He was always involved in the fact that Mo was there. It was nice to see, but it wasn’t a surprise.”
“It was an easy decision to bring him into the team. As I have said many times before, what was discussed between us will remain between us. We needed him and it was great for us that he provided the assist in the 2-0. “This season we have been on the wrong side of the set-piece battle many times.
“For him to go to AFCON means we’re going to lose another player. We knew this before the season started. Hopefully one or two players will come back from injury.”
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