Mohamed Salah’s afternoon against Crystal Palace took a painful turn when he was forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
With Salah already set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, the timing could hardly have been worse. There are only four games left in what has become his farewell tour, and the injury has arrived just before the meeting with Manchester United.
For Liverpool, that is bad enough. But for Salah, it’s devastating. Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker now fear that the Palace appearance may have been the last time fans see Salah in a Liverpool shirt.
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Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker not hopeful about Mo Salah’s injury
Speaking at the end of a The Rest Is Football show that had largely focused on Manchester City and Arsenal, Shearer and Lineker turned their attention to Salah’s injury.
Shearer felt there was something telling in the way Salah left the pitch.
He said: “You could tell with Mo’s reaction, couldn’t you? The way he sort of was applauding the crowd when he went off, you suspect, I hope not, but you suspect that could be his last game.
“It felt like his last game because you know what it’s like when he had a hammy injury.”
Mohamed Salah pictured in conversation with Arne Slot after being taken off during Liverpool's Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Anfield.
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Lineker was similarly downbeat, saying: “Yeah, it looks a bad one. Very unlikely he’ll play again, but what a credit to our game he’s been,” Lineker said.
It would be a devastating end, and an unfitting one for a player of this magnitude. Salah did not need one final send-off for Liverpool fans to understand what he has meant to the club. But he deserved one.
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Shearer was full of admiration for Salah when discussing his Liverpool legacy.
He responded: “No, brilliant. Awesome. Been absolutely unbelievable. I don’t think many people thought when they signed him he could go on and achieve what he has done.
“He’s been ridiculously good. One of the greats. One of the best we have ever seen in the Premier League.”
That is the point that should not be lost, even if this injury proves to be the end. Salah is one of the Premier League greats, and one of the defining players in Liverpool’s modern history.
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Hopefully, there is still one more appearance to come, perhaps on the final day against Brentford. But if Palace really was the end, it will not change anything in the eyes of supporters. Salah’s place in the pantheon of Liverpool greats is already secure.
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