Mohamed Salah facing race against time to be fit for Manchester City cup clash | OneFootball

Mohamed Salah is facing a race against time to be fit for Liverpool’s FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City early next month after a muscle injury ruled him out until after the international break.

It is a blow for head coach Arne Slot as the Egypt international, who had scored in three of his last four starts, as many as in his previous 14 starts, as he had put in one of his best performances of the season in the Champions League win over Galatasaray.

However, on Wednesday night when the 33-year-old gestured to the bench to be taken off after scoring a trademark goal, the omens were not good.

“Indeed, unusual and as a result of that you can expect the outcome: he’s not available for tomorrow,” said Slot ahead of the trip to Brighton.

“The good thing for Liverpool is we go to an international break, and the bad thing for Egypt is that he can’t go there.

“We’re hoping with what Mo has shown in the past that he can recover faster than other players in similar situation because he takes such good care of his body.

“History has shown he can be back earlier than some others, but it’s only two weeks until we go again, so let’s hope in that period of time he can be back.”

Salah has proved to be incredibly resilient during his Liverpool career, missing just 10 Premier League matches through injury since joining in 2017, and this is his first since a hamstring problem in January 2024.

It is another hurdle for Slot to overcome as it places additional pressure on the right side of his team, where he has struggled for cover at full-back almost all season and particularly since Conor Bradley’s campaign was ended by a knee injury in early January.

Jeremie Frimpong, who has had numerous injury problems, featured there in midweek but played only 67 minutes.

He would be the stand-in for Salah further forward but that would then mean Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s best player this season, would again have to drop into defence despite a starring midfield role against Galatasaray, as Joe Gomez is not fit to cover.

It has happened so regularly that Slot is tired of talking about it.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say this: Dominik is a midfielder. Should I say this five or six times?” he said.

“So the moment I play him in a different position doesn’t mean I am trying to be a tactical genius, it means I don’t have options.

“So if I have a full-back on the bench, ask yourself if he is fit to play? Every time I make a line-up, there must be a reason why he is playing right full-back because Dominik is a very good midfielder for us.

“If everybody is available the team is stronger when he is playing in midfield, but if we miss five, six, seven players then maybe we disagree the team is strongest playing him at full-back.”