Mohamed Salah and Egypt were defeated 1-0 by Senegal in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations today, with ex-Red Sadio Mané scoring the winning goal for Senegal and ending the dream of glory for The
Pharaohs. Despite that, Salah won’t be returning immediately to Liverpool.
That’s because having made it to the semi-final ensured Salah and Egypt still have the small matter of one more game to play, with AFCoN set to hold a third-place match on Saturday, a day before Senegal will face the winner of Nigeria and Morocco in the final of this year’s tournament.
That means Salah won’t be on hand for Saturday’s Premier League tie against Burnley, with the mid-week return of Champions League action now the earliest the forward could re-join the Reds. Liverpool travel to Marseille for the penultimate seventh game of the league phase next Wednesday.
After that, there is one more league phase Champions League tie, with Qarabag visiting Anfield on January 28th. The Reds currently sit ninth, with the top eight getting a bye into the Round of 16, but they’re level on points with the three sides ahead of them and well positioned if they win out.
