According to Metro, Before their Africa Cup of Nations match against Cape Verde, Egypt’s manager Rui Vitoria criticized Jurgen Klopp for discussing Mohamed Salah’s injury, stating that he “didn’t think it was right” for the Liverpool head coach to get involved.
One of the biggest draws at this year’s AFCON, Mohamed Salah, was forced off the field during the first half of Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Ghana in Group B on Thursday due to a muscle ailment.
Although Egypt has attempted to downplay the seriousness of their talisman’s leg injury, the 31-year-old forward was compelled to watch as his teammates drew with Cape Verde in Abidjan on Monday night in order to advance to the round of 16.
Speaking to the media prior to the pivotal AFCON match, Klopp stated that Salah would receive treatment back in Merseyside. Should his country advance to the knockout stages, the attacker intended to travel back to the Ivory Coast.
‘That’s the plan, if that’s already decided 100 per cent, I don’t know but that’s the plan,’ the Liverpool head coach said after his team’s 4-0 defeat of Bournemouth.
‘However long he’s out, I think, probably everyone sees this, it makes sense that he does rehab with us or our people, that’s the plan. If that’s written in stone already, I don’t know.’
Asked if he has spoken to Salah, Klopp replied: ‘Yes, directly after but since the night it happened he’s in contact our doctor and the doc tells me the news. I think he will be back.’
Naturally, after Egypt qualified for the round of 16, Salah’s injury was one of the most talked-about subjects, with the whole country appearing to be waiting for fitness updates.
Before kickoff, Egypt manager Vitoria had been reluctant to address Salah’s problem. However, when he addressed the media at his press conference following the game, he revealed the attacker’s injury was more serious than he had initially believed.
“I would like to use this chance to make clarifications,” Vitoria said to the media.
‘Mohamed Salah has an injury, which we learned before this game was a longer-term injury than we first thought, so we have had to prolong the amount of time before he can play again.
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Before the game we did not want to say anything. Meanwhile, everything was in the control of our excellent medical team.
‘Given we were going to have to travel, given the temperatures, given that we were going to be going to a different city, maybe it makes sense that Salah should have a place he can go to recover as quickly as possible.’
The fact that Klopp had discussed Salah’s fitness and announced his imminent return to Liverpool ahead of such a “tremendously important” match for Egypt was obviously not well received by Vitoria.
‘We didn’t want to alarm anyone. I didn’t think it was right for Liverpool, via any intermediary, to speak about this, because we had a tremendously important game today,’ Vitoria added.
‘Salah has always been with us. Now this game is over we will find the best solution for the treatment of the player.
‘These are the facts. This is the situation.’
Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas, claims that his injury may keep the star player from Liverpool out of action for at least three weeks, thus missing the rest of Egypt’s AFCON campaign.
Additionally, Salah might miss up to seven games for Liverpool, which would include their February 4 trip to Premier League rivals Arsenal.
Egypt, on the other hand, will play the country that places second in Group F, most likely without their captain and best player, having secured their place in the round of 16.
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