Egypt manager Rui Vitoria has appeared to take aim at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp over Mohamed Salah.
Last week, Reds talisman Salah was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury during Egypt’s AFCON clash against Ghana.
Salah was replaced just before the halftime whistle by Mostafa Fathi.
On Monday, it was confirmed by Salah’s agent that the injury was worse than first thought.
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After Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Bournemouth on Sunday, Klopp revealed that Salah would return to Merseyside for treatment.
Klopp’s comments on Salah have not gone down well with Vitoria, who said, as per the Daily Star: “We didn’t want to alarm anyone. I didn’t think it was right for Liverpool, via any intermediary, to speak about this, because we had a tremendously important game today.
"Salah has always been with us. Now this game is over we will find the best solution for the treatment of the player. These are the facts. This is the situation.”
He added: “I want to take this opportunity to clarify things. Mohamed Salah has an injury, which we learned before this game was a longer-term injury than we first thought, so we have had to prolong the amount of time before he can play again.
“Before the game we did not want to say anything. Meanwhile, everything was in the control of our excellent medical team. Given we were going to have to travel, given the temperatures, given that we were going to be going to a different city, maybe it makes sense that Salah should have a place he can go to recover as quickly as possible.”
Salah has also been criticised for leaving his team behind, but Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders said: “The one you should never doubt the commitment of is Mo Salah.
“I know the country is devastated to lose him. He is massive. The only reason ours and their medical team decided for him to come back is to give the best chance to make the final if Egypt reach it.”