Liverpool prepare to resume their Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a trip to Marseille in what will be their penultimate league phase game of their 2025-26 European campaign, and a single point will be enough to ensure the Reds progress to the knockout rounds.
Their hopes were given a boost with the return of Mohamed Salah to training after a disappointing end to the Africa Cup of Nations for the superstar forward, with Egypt making it to the semi-final stage only to lose to final winners
Senegal and then to Nigeria in the third-place playoff.
What Salah’s role for Liverpool will be, though, is a fair question given his falling out with manager Arne Slot before his international duty departure over the holiday period, but with Liverpool currently looking very thin in attack there’s plenty of reason to think Salah will be needed.
In Salah’s absence, Liverpool have managed to tally up to 12 games in their current unbeaten streak—no small accomplishment given the team’s struggles in the autumn—but there remain questions around performances and this remains a side that seems rather to lack a tactical identity.
If this title-defending Liverpool side are to manage more than treading water following last summer’s £450M transfer splurge, it’s hard to imagine it happening without Salah playing a key role. However, Salah’s involvement on Wednesday won’t be the only question Slot has to answer.
That’s because while Salah has returned to training, centre half Ibrahima Konaté has left the club due to family reasons and widespread reports today suggest it is not yet known if he will join his teammates for Wednesday and take part in the match against Ligue 1’s third-place side.
If Konaté isn’t available, that will leave Slot with just two fit senior centre halves to choose from in captain Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, and Gomez’ struggles with injuries this season will likely have everyone feeling a little bit nervous on the defensive depth front in the coming weeks.
