Mohamed Salah scored a second-half brace as Liverpool edged Leicester City 2-1 in an entertaining Premier League game on Saturday but the Egyptian’s heroics seem to have come at a price as Jurgen Klopp revealed that the winger suffered a knock towards the end of the game.
“I don’t know in this moment exactly (what it is), but he was limping. That’s never a good sign, to be honest,” Klopp stated on the matter of substituting the winger in the 83rd minute for Georginio Wijnaldum.
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Leicester had raced into a one-goal lead in the third minute itself, via Jamie Vardy’s strike, but Liverpool didn’t let the early deficit put them off their stride and proceeded to dominate the remainder of the game.
Their concerted pressure paid off as Salah raced onto Sadio Mane’s deft back-heel to score his 16th league goal of the season in the 52nd minute before completing the turnaround after swivelling away from Harry Maguire and beating Kasper Schmeichel for the second time in the 74th minute.
“We have to see what his problem was. We will see what he can do for the next game,” the German tactician added.
Salah has unequivocally been the signing of the season, for the £35 million man as been worth every penny spent, as his tally of 17 league goals attests.
The 25-year-old is second only to Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane (18 goals) in the Premier League scoring charts, an incredible feat considering the likes of Sergio Aguero (12) Romelu Lukaku (10) and Alvaro Morata (10), among others, ply their trade in the English top fight.
Without him, the Reds will be hard-pressed to beat a steely Burnley side but Jurgen Klopp’s men have plenty of bonafide stars in their lineup and Philippe Coutinho and co will have to step up in the Egyptian’s absence.
Normally a knock takes a week at most to heal and considering the tie against the Clarets comes within a 48-hour timeframe, it is highly unlikely Salah will start at Turf Moor.
Whether or not he makes the matchday squad remains to be seen and his next game is likely to be a FA Cup tie with Merseyside rivals Everton on January 5.
