Mohamed Salah will miss Liverpool’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday and will also miss friendlies against Egypt and Spain during the international break. Reds’ talisman Salah demanded to be substituted immediately after scoring in Wednesday’s 4-0 Champions League win over Galatasaray, but has now been declared unfit for the trip to the south coast by manager Arne Slott.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Slott said: “This is unusual. It’s unusual (that Salah is injured). I think we’re hoping for a result, so he’s out tomorrow. It’s good for us going into the international break, but bad news for Egypt is that he I can’t go there. I hope that with what Mo has shown so far, he will be able to recover faster than other players. He takes great care of his body and history has shown that he will be able to come back faster than others. There are only two weeks left until he goes again…”
Slott then confirmed that Salah has a muscular problem, while the Reds manager also addressed the fitness of Joe Gomez, who was included in the squad for the game against Galatasaray but did not remain on the substitute bench.
“Joe couldn’t make it. We tried to postpone it as long as we could,” Slott said. “He could be available tomorrow – maybe – but he won’t start.”
Reflecting on Salah’s performance against Galatasaray, in which he recorded a goal and an assist after missing a penalty, Slott said: “His first half wasn’t too bad and the whole team played well. Personally, it helps if the team plays well.”
“That way they can shine. It says a lot about his mental strength, but that comes with age. Even if you miss chances, the older you get, the better you are at dealing with situations like this. He’s always done this really well. He’s done this very well in his career. It’s his experience to shut down chances and produce goals and assists.”
“What he said after he missed the penalty just before half-time (to score the goal) says a lot about him. It’s difficult for an individual and for the team. So give the team credit for how they came out in the second half, as they’ve had a lot of setbacks this season.”
“In the first half and second half, we were unable to properly evaluate our performance and created chances one after another, and often failed to score.
“Then Mo and the team came out the same way in the second half. He assisted Hugo first and had a great assist. Then he scored his trademark goal. He has scored a lot of goals in this stadium and this club, going inside and scoring the top corner.”
“It speaks to his mental strength, but it definitely speaks to the strength of the team, because adversity is something that speaks to this season.”
