Egypt’s star attacker Mohamed Salah has been given the green light to return to Liverpool after his national team announced they would be resting him for next week’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritania. The decision comes after Egypt boss Hossam Hassan publicly declared that he would willingly release Salah from the match due to fears of conceding an injury.
Hassan said, ” If any player asks me not to play on artificial turf, I will agree. The Mauritanian team plays hard and with violent interventions, and their field is not the best. If Salah specifically asks me to do so, I will agree.”
They come into this game after defeating the same opponents 2-0 in Cairo on Friday. Speaking of this opposition the coach said that Mauritania plays hand violent with interventions and Egypt do not want to run the risk of losing Salah to injury.
A statement from the Egyptian Football Association said that the technical staff of Egypt’s senior football team led by the manager held a meeting with Mohamed Salah, where they agreed to rest the player for the upcoming match.
Good News for Liverpool
This is good news for Liverpool as Salah’s return means that he will have time to rest and prepare for their upcoming game against Chelsea next Sunday. He will join Virgil van Dijk, who has also been released after being suspended for Netherlands’s upcoming game against Germany.
The Reds are already without the services of Alisson for their visit to Stamford Bridge and Alexis Mac Allister, Federico Chiesa, and Harvey Elliott are all in doubt for the upcoming game.
Egypt are currently topping the Group winning all their AFCON qualifiers and they did not even concede a goal. Hassan appears to be relaxed about the fixture as victory is not essential for them due to their strong position. Speaking about it he said, ” I was very worried about the Mauritania match, and the pitch there is very difficult. Even if I don’t win there, it doesn’t matter.”
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