When Mohamed Salah got injured during the 2-2 draw with Ghana, shock was the most common feeling between the team based in Ivory Coast, home crowd in Egypt and especially Liverpool. The Reds are in a great form, they are top of the league, they are in the middle of the Premier League battle and Salah is their best player this season, no doubt. So, they rushed to bring him back, stating their ability to take care of the player so that he could return to Egypt if they reach semi-finals. And it was expected that a situation in which the captain of the team leaves his teammates even thou he is injured was not gonna go well with the fans. And it didn’t. Salah back in England and waits Egypt to reach AFCON semi-finalsAhmed Hassan is the record performer with 184 caps for Egypt and no less than four AFCON titles and he doesn’t like one bit that the current captain was so quick to leave for England. “I’ve always backed Salah and I was very happy with his presence as captain. I had no problems with what he said, but it turned out that he was plotting his departure from the Egypt camp. Do the AFCON regulations allow a player to leave the national team’s camp and come back again? He had the possibility of bringing in someone from Liverpool’s medical staff to be with him during the competition. Again, he is the captain. He should stay with the team no matter what, even if he only had one leg to stand on” he said. Mohamed Salah: “I don’t remember replying to someone or doing anything [regarding criticism] because anyone can say whatever they want, this is freedom of opinions, and everyone has social media to say their opinions and i respect that.” pic.twitter.com/T82oNDJp9A— Anything Liverpool (@AnythingLFC_) January 21, 2024 The fact that coach Jurgen Klopp was the first one to inform the Egypt nation that their captain is leaving Ivory Coast, and not their own FA was also a matter of anger. But his assistant Pep Lijnders was there to defend Salah from his critiques. “You should never doubt the commitment of Mo Salah. I have never met anyone more committed to being a footballer. I know his country is devastated by what has happened to their captain and goalscorer but the only reason our medical team and their medical team decided he should come back here is to give him the best chance to be available for the final if Egypt reach it. How it works is all of us make the best decision what is best for him. A stable environment at a facility with people who have the time for the rehab process” said Lijnders. Salah Cup of Nighmares – Liverpool star faces a month outTo make things worse, the initial injury to Salah proved to be much more serious than expected, so he could miss the whole tournament. Salah could also miss key Premier League clashes with Chelsea, Arsenal, Burnley and Brentford. “Mohammed’s injury is more serious than first thought and he will be out for 21-28 days, and not 2 games. His best chance at participating in the current AFCON is by undergoing intensive rehabilitation in the UK and rejoining the team as soon as he is fit” said his agent Ramy Abbas.##NAJAVA_MECA_7822166##
