Salah, Egypt’s captain, went down injured shortly before half time, shaking his head as he left the pitch and then sitting on the bench as he was consoled by teammates.
The 31-year-old appeared to have a hamstring issue, which would almost certainly rule him out of the rest of the Afcon at the very least.
Indeed, things got worse for Egypt shortly after Salah’s injury, going behind Mohammed Kudus’ strike in first half stoppage time.
A defeat for Egypt would leave them very unlikely to progress from their group.
Liverpool already have eight players out injured, plus Salah and Wataru Endo being away on international duty.
The severity of Salah’s hamstring strain will dictate any potential absence, with a grade 1 injury taking only a few days to heal, while anything the most severe could take up to eight weeks.
With Egypt’s final group game in four days, that would be optimistic for a return. From a Liverpool point of view, he may not miss any more domestic games than if his side made it to the Afcon final.
The tournament ends in three weeks and should Salah be ruled out for that long, which is typical for a mild strain, he would miss Liverpool’s games against Bournemouth, Fulham, Norwich, Chelsea, Arsenal and Burnley.
With three weeks left of Afcon, it could pan out that he’d miss exactly what he would’ve had Egypt made it to the final.
Salah’s last injury was November 2019, an ankle issue that saw him miss two games for Egypt. The last time he missed a Liverpool game due to injury was in October 2019.
Indeed, he has only ever missed three Liverpool games due to injury since arriving at the club six and a half years ago.
