Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah will bounce back from his World Cup heartache and is ready to spearhead Liverpool’s assault on the remaining trophies this campaign.
The Liverpool star missed the decisive penalty in the play-off shootout defeat against Senegal this week, which cost his nation a place at Qatar 2022.
It was another setback for Salah, coming after the disappointment of losing the Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal and his Liverpool teammate Mane.
Salah returned to Merseyside this week and having shown no ill-effects, is certain to start against Watford at Anfield.
‘I’m really happy for Sadio and I feel for Mo,’ said Klopp at his pre-match press conference. ‘I don’t think the situation with lasers in the shootout was cool. It’s different when two mates are in such a big game against each other but they are top professionals.
‘They are emotional but they will deal with it in the right way. Senegal are the best team in Africa and Egypt took them to the wire twice. That is as close as you can get.
‘I am not sure they can see it like this but they cannot get closer.’
‘Mo wants to win again. His desire will be bigger now than ever. He is a very smart person. He knows that Senegal are a really tough team in the moment. They have a good generation. But he is fine.’
Klopp, meanwhile, was able to celebrate a win of sorts himself earlier this week when the Premier League confirmed five substitutions would be permitted from the start of next campaign.
‘It is top news for football and top news for the players,’ said Klopp. ‘We have all spoken about it, that the games won’t get less.
‘With all the things we know we try to help the players as much as we can but the games are always the most intense and everything we could do we should do.’
