Mohamed Salah has been away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt since mid-December and will miss his seventh Liverpool game this weekend before returning next week
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has been speaking at a press conference
Arne Slot explained the situation with Mohamed Salah(Image: (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
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Mohamed Salah will return to Liverpool next week and could be available for the Champions League game against Marseille. Salah will play for Egypt in the third-place play-off match against Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday before returning to Merseyside.
Egypt were beaten 1-0 by Senegal in the AFCON semi-final on Wednesday night as Salah's ex-Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane got one over on him again. The 33-year-old will therefore not be playing in Sunday's final in Morocco, but still has one more match before he can fly back to England.
It means he will miss Liverpool's Premier League game against Burnley on Saturday afternoon, making it seven matches in total since he left for AFCON. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arne Slot confirmed that he has been in contact with Salah, who could feature in the trip to Marseille on Wednesday evening.
"First of all, he plays a big game for Egypt on Saturday and then he comes back, I am happy he comes back," the Liverpool manager said. "Mo has been so important for this club and me, so I am happy he is back and even if I had 15 attackers, I would be happy to see Mo back but that is not our situation. Happy to have him back after an important game tomorrow."
Asked to clarify when exactly he would return, Slot added: "Next week, we're in talks with him. First of all, he needs to have an important game on Saturday. Champions League? We are talking together about it now."
Salah left for AFCON with lots of attention on him following a turbulent period. The Egyptian star openly criticised Slot, accusing him of throwing him under the bus by not picking him, but the two held clear-the-air talks and he assisted a goal in a 2-0 win over Brighton on December 13 before leaving.
Things have stabilised in his absence, with Liverpool 11 games unbeaten in all competitions since a 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven on November 26. The Reds sit fourth in the Premier League going into the weekend's round of fixtures, but Slot is still asking for more from his players.
Mohamed Salah runs
Mohamed Salah will miss Liverpool's match with Burnley on Saturday(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
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"The last 11 games, we have hardly conceded chances, but in the period before that we created lots but conceded more chances," he said. "And they were more open games where maybe people look back and want those now but the results weren't as we wanted them to be.
"We have to find that balance and we will, the players are growing, they find belief and getting fitter. We are waiting for a moment when we can kickstart our season even more than we have."
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