- Mohamed Salah, candidate to play in Liverpool’s match against Sparta Prague
- The Egyptian winger has not started a club match since New Year’s
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Mohamed Salah is in contention to return to Liverpool action on Thursday and manager Jurgen Klopp says he is “full of energy” despite a recent injury, risking the wrath of furious Egyptian staff amid of the current dispute between club and country over his physical condition.
The 31-year-old striker has not started a club game since the New Year’s victory over Newcastle after leaving the African Cup of Nations early due to injury. That sparked initial frustration in Egypt when Salah left the Ivory Coast camp for rehabilitation work in Merseyside.
Ahmed Hassan, a former Egypt star who made 184 international appearances, slammed Salah and said he should have stayed in the national team even if he “only had one leg to stand on.” That dispute intensified this week when the nation objected to Liverpool’s request to exempt Salah from an upcoming camp.
The Reds wrote to Egypt asking them to put Salah’s long-term health ahead of a one-off friendly tournament, in which the Pharaohs will play New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on March 22, but the nation refused and said it had the right to call . Captain.
Mail Sport also revealed how high-profile staff at the Egyptian Federation had found it difficult to communicate with Salah. Their fury at Liverpool’s desire to protect Salah’s fitness will increase further if he plays against Sparta Prague.
Mohamed Salah likely to return to action for Liverpool in their clash with Sparta Prague
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp insisted the winger is “full of energy” ahead of his return to the first team.
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Liverpool’s letter effectively asked Egypt to consider Salah’s long-term importance to both club and country and how his minutes should be managed carefully, arguing that a friendly tournament is not a smart place to do so with a previous title. but also a key World Cup. playoffs on the horizon.
He will be in the Reds’ squad on Thursday having trained for the past two days and traveled to the Czech capital, giving Liverpool a huge boost ahead of a titanic title fight with Manchester City on Sunday in the Premier League. . Salah would probably log minutes off the bench.
Klopp said: ‘(Mo) is with us and has trained for two days, he is full of energy, we have to see him. But he’s so good that he’s back. He is really good and it shows in his face. It was a very unlikely situation that so much time had passed.
‘We want to be careful, we have to be careful. But we are in the middle of a super intense period of the season and we need everyone. So let’s see how long we can use it and this kind of stuff. Yes, it’s just good news.
When asked about the so-called dispute with the Egyptian Football Federation, Klopp added: “That has nothing to do with us, actually.” That will be decided by different departments. Let’s see how long he can play now. He has only been training with the team for two days.
Salah has not appeared in a club match since Liverpool’s 4-2 victory over Newcastle in January.
“In a different situation (not an injury crisis), the players are not in the team at the moment (after two days of training), but now the situation makes sense. What can you give them? How much can you use them? And then these two games against Egypt, it’s really not up to me.”
The Egyptian Football Federation said they would “adhere to his inclusion” if he played any minutes for Liverpool before the next international break and insisted that national team doctor Mohamed Abu El-Ela would carry out his own assessment of the striker.
Klopp’s men continue to fight on three fronts, with the Carabao Cup trophy already in their pocket, and the German coach stated that he does not know how to prioritize a single competition and that tonight’s clash against Sparta is the only thing he has in mind.
“This is the only game we will play tomorrow, so it is the most important game we have,” he said. ‘We don’t make any difference. We would not have won the League Cup or been in the round of 16 of the FA Cup or still in the Europa League if we had prioritized a competition. We never did that.
‘Maybe it would be smart to do it, but I don’t know how. I’m a bit dumb so I don’t know how to do that. “We go to each game with everything we have and I hope that tomorrow we will see that that is the objective.”
