Too much football? If the number of injuries going around is an indicator, definitely. The injury bug took arguably one of the biggest names recently with Mohamed Salah’s injury forcing him off the field during an AFCON fixture vs Ghana.
After Erling Haaland’s injury proved to be worse than first expected, another marquee name joins him in the world of football.
As the talisman of both club and national side, both teams now face a nervous wait for the diagnosis as a crucial fixture list awaits the Egyptian.
So, what is the Mohamed Salah injury and what do we know so far? Here are all the details:
Mohamed Salah injury
During Egypt’s second fixture of AFCON vs Ghana, Mohamed Salah fell to the pitch at the stroke of half-time. He was feeling his hamstring and unfortunately, he looked distraught and unable to carry on.
He was subbed off immediately as manager Rui Vitoria took no risks with the fitness of his talisman.
The worrying thing for fans was that it looked like a non-contact injury which are almost always worse than contact injuries.
Egypt conceded immediately after Salah was subbed off as they looked shellshocked and were reeling from the loss of their captain and most important player.
Depending upon the grade of a hamstring strain, Salah could be out for 10 days up to three months. However, Vitoria’s statements post-game indicated that the injury is not so serious that it could keep Salah on the shelf for three months. It would come as music to the ears of Liverpool and Egypt fans.
However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was less sure about the extent of the injury and elected to keep his cards close to his chest.
Here’s what the club and national team managers said-
Klopp and Vitoria’s thoughts
Unsurprisingly, regardless of the result (Egypt drew 2-2), the first question asked was about an update on Salah’s status.
Vitoria said that while it’s too early to say something definitely, he thinks “it’s not serious”.
It is highly unlikely that he will suit up for Egypt’s final group-stage fixture at the very least, and Liverpool will undoubtedly pressurise Egypt to make that decision as well.
In the meantime, Jurgen Klopp gave his thoughts on the same to Liverpool’s official website. He said that he had already spoken to Salah about it and the need for further assessment was stressed.
Klopp said his first reaction was something that many Liverpool fans would share which is- “Oh my god, what is it?”.
He said: “We will see, that depends on the diagnosis. There will be an ultrasound and they will do an MRI and then we will know what it is and then we will see what Egypt plans. But it’s too early [to say], sorry”.
Further updates on his status should arrive before Egypt’s final group-stage fixture against Cape Verde on January 22nd.