Mohamed Salah was sent off before half-time of Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday, leaving both his national team’s fans and Liverpool worried about his availability for crucial games ahead.
The Egypt captain came off in first-half stoppage time with an undisclosed injury, leaving his team to struggle without him as the score was 0-0. It is unclear what the timetable for his recovery is
The match changed quickly after Salah came off, with Ghana’s Mohamed Quds scoring just two minutes after the substitution. Omar Marmous equalized for Egypt in the 69th minute but Qudous scored again just two minutes later. Mustafa Mohamed scored to make it 2-2 in the 74th minute.
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On Friday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave an update, or at least as much of an update as he had.
“We don’t know anything. I spoke to him last night and how he is doing with these injuries, he needs further evaluation. That’s what they’re doing now and then we’ll know more. Of course, at the time it was a shock: ‘Oh my God, what is this?’
“You couldn’t see it was like that [being] he was hit by something with high intensity, you couldn’t see [that] and then going down you have those kind of hamstring injuries in a different way but he still felt it and we all know how rarely Mo goes or needs to go so there’s definitely something and we’ll see.
“But I don’t have any more information right now.”
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The result left Egypt second in Group B with two points after a 2-2 draw with Mozambique, who play group leaders Cape Verde on Friday. Salah’s side have yet to qualify for the knockout round and need to do well against Cape Verde on Monday, and his availability could be crucial to their prospects. However, the Pharaohs can take some positivity from the fact that Salah has only scored one of their four goals so far in this tournament.
Salah’s recovery timetable could also deal a blow to Liverpool’s title hopes. He currently leads the Premier League with 14 shots as the Reds top the table about halfway through the season. Liverpool have done well so far without Salah, winning both of their games since he left for the Africa Cup of Nations and scoring four goals in the process. However, their hold on top spot is far from secure — they currently sit just two points ahead of champions Manchester City.