Mohamed Salah was not one to cry, even when the final whistle went in Tangier. Egypt was defeated in the Africa Cup semi-final matches. He just wore a faint smile, but this time, his smile concealed much anguish.
Egypt again failed to win the Afcon. Egypt again lost to Senegal and Sadio Mané, Salah's former teammates in Liverpool.
However, Salah had a good tournament despite the loss. The 33-year-old scored four goals in five matches and took his team to the semi-finals. After his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals, Salah stated that it was the “best camp” he had with the national team.
He continues to explain that the players were very close. They spend time together. They appreciated jokes. They exerted effort both on and off the field.
Presently, Salah is set to return to his club side Liverpool after his third-placed match between Egypt and Nigeria in Casablanca. Nevertheless, his future in the club is still uncertain.
Salah was last involved in a starting XI forLiverpool on26thNovember in Champions League action against PSV. This resulted in a loss of 4-1 forLiverpool. Since then,Liverpool have not lost any of their next 11 matches. They have won six out of these matches and have had five drawsmatches. However, their display had not been impressive. In fact, their manager Arne Slot confessed thatLiverpool’s display had been so boring.
This happened over a month ago, after a match at Leeds, where he lashed out during an angry interview, claiming that Liverpool had "thrown him under the bus." This is because he had been left out of three consecutive matches. In addition, he also said that he had stopped talking to Slot.
As a result of that incident, Salah was omitted from the team during a match against Inter Milan. However, he was not penalized and quickly featured again during a match against Brighton. He was a substitute due to an injury to Joe Gomez.
Salah made an impact when he delivered an assist. The fans from Anfield welcomed him warmly, and they sang his popular song. After the match, Salah chose to stay on the pitch and applaud the fans. This was the last match he played before he traveled to Egypt's camp.
Slot later clarified that there was “no issue” with Salah, and Curtis Jones, a Reds player, disclosed that an apology was issued by Salah to the group for the issues raised from the interview.
Meanwhile, Liverpool has managed without a defeat while Salah was away. The club has suffered some injuries though. They have been without striker Alexander Isak till at least March. Another player, Conor Bradley, will not play for the rest of the season.
The big question that persists now, however, is what the eventual return and subsequent career trajectory for Mohamed Salah at Liverpool will look like.