Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has suffered a back strain and will miss the next two Africa Cup of Nations matches, the Egyptian Football Federation has confirmed.
As first reported by the ECHO on Friday afternoon, initial fears over the severity of the attacker’s injury were dampened after sources revealed he suffered a muscle injury in his back.
On Thursday (January 18), the Reds were left waiting anxiously for the diagnosis of the 31-year-old after he limped off in the latter stages of their first-half in their 2-2 draw with Ghana. Salah was down on his haunches on the stroke of half-time following a counter-attack.
It was first feared that the Egyptian had suffered a hamstring but in a post to X on Friday night (January 18), the Egyptian Football Federation confirmed that Salah has suffered a strain in his back.
“Mohamed Salah (has) suffered a strain in his back muscle and will miss two matches in the African Nations,” the statement began.
The x-rays that Mohamed Salah, the captain of the Egyptian national team, underwent, showed that he suffered a strain in the posterior muscle, and he will miss the team’s next two matches in the African Nations against Cape Verde, and then the round of 16 match in the event of qualification.”
As it stands in Group B, Egypt sit second with two points going into their final group stage encounter with Cape Verde. Egypt need to win to seal their place in the knockout rounds, should they draw, they will be hoping that Mozambique avoid defeat against the Black Stars on January 22.
Liverpool were due to be without Salah until February due to his involvement in the Ivory Coast, as he looks to captain his nation to a famous triumph.
However the pictures of the attacker limping off sparked fear and shocked Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. Previewing his Premier League clash with AFC Bournemouth, the German revealed that he spoke to Salah following the issue.
“We don’t know anything about Mo,” he said on Friday. “I spoke last night with him and (asked) how it is with his injuries. With these injuries they need further assessment, that’s what they are doing now and we will know more.
“In that moment (it happened), it was a shock. I couldn’t see it was like he was hit by something high intense and then go down. You can have these hamstring injuries in different ways, be he still felt it. We all know how rarely Mo goes off or needs to go off so it is definitely something, so we will see.
“There will be ultrasound and MRI and then we will see what Egypt plan. But it’s too early.”
Speaking after their draw, Egypt manager Rui Vitoria felt the issue wasn’t serious but conceded that at the time, it was too soon to say.
“I hope not (a big problem). We don’t know yet what the problem is. I hope it’s not a big problem but it was a problem in the first-half,” he said.
“It was difficult timing for us because in the second half, we could only make two substitutions. But now, I don’t know. It’s early to see something, I think it’s not dangerous but let’s see if Salah recovers.”
