Jurgen Klopp’s last words to Mo Salah before AFCON come back to haunt him after Egypt injury
Jurgen Klopp's last words to Mohamed Salah before the Africa Cup of Nations have come back to haunt him following the star forward's injury.
Egypt opened their AFCON tournament last night as they played out a 2-2 draw with Ghana.
West Ham United's Mohammed Kudus gave Ghana the lead in first-half stoppage time, with Omar Marmoush levelling proceedings.
Kudus put his side back in the lead before Mostafa Mohamed equalised.
Advert
Salah failed to get on the scoresheet as he was forced off injured before half-time with a suspected hamstring injury.
The Liverpool winger was seen sat by his team's bench looking disconsolate after leaving the pitch.
His knock comes after Klopp said he wanted him back early and healthy ahead of the second half of Liverpool's campaign this season.
Speaking ahead of their FA Cup tie against Arsenal, he said: "I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie.
"From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that's probably not possible. They can go on and win it.
"So it was 'Good luck and come back healthy'. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way."
Liverpool went onto beat Arsenal without Salah's services as Klopp explained how he'll deal with the 31-year-old's absence.
"I think we played against West Ham (in last month's League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there," he added:
"We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible - we just have to use the boys with their skills.
"Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn't have to do it often but we always found a way.
"But we play Arsenal and you can lose to Arsenal with Mo Salah so it's possible to lose to them without him."
Topics: Mohamed Salah, Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Football
Nasir Jabbar