Mohamed Salah could be a significant miss for Liverpool in the upcoming weeks if a suspected hamstring injury is confirmed to be serious - and it has emerged that Cristiano Ronaldo has indirectly played a role in his success for Jurgen Klopp's side.
Salah suffered the injury during Egypt's 2-2 draw against Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday evening, with the 31-year-old going to ground unchallenged.
The winger then winced in pain as he was receiving treatment, while pointing to his left hamstring.
Speaking in a press conference on Friday morning, Liverpool boss Klopp confirmed that the Reds do not yet know the extent of the injury, saying: "We don't know anything.
Advert
"I spoke with him last night, and he will have further assessment. Then we will know more.
"He felt it, and we all know how rarely Mo goes off, so it's definitely something. We will see."
It speaks to Salah's incredible impact on this Liverpool team since his arrival in 2017 that a major injury could be a significant blow to the Reds' Premier League title hopes.
The 31-year-old has scored 151 goals in 238 league games during his six-and-a-half years on Merseyside, and Liverpool will find that kind of output hard to replace if it is needed.
Salah is also rarely injured for Liverpool, having missed just 11 games for club and country during that time (via Transfermarkt).
According to The Athletic, there is a key reason for that - and it involves Ronaldo.
The report claims that Salah looked up to Ronaldo as a teenager - although he wasn't idol - and examined his physique as a professional footballer.
It is said that the Egyptian also followed European football closely, and both factors caused him to focus heavily on his gym work in the years that were to come.
As a result, Salah has had no problems with muscle injuries during his time at the Reds, when other players have.
His last injury that saw him miss more than three games was when he was at Roma, when he missed nearly a month with an ankle ligament problem in 2015.
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Egypt, Africa Cup Of Nations, Injury
Ryan Smart