Mohamed Salah will be out for two months by the shoulder injury he sustained during Liverpool’s Champions League final loss to Real Madrid and will miss Egypt’s World Cup campaign, Saudi Arabian sports administrator Turki Al-Sheikh has confirmed.
Salah was substituted after 30 minutes of Saturday’s encounter in Kiev, having grappled with Madrid defender Sergio Ramos and landed heavily on the pitch.
Gareth Bale came off the bench to steal the winner with a game-changing overhead kick after Sadio Mane had cancelled out Karim Benzema’s opener, Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was the culprit for the latter as Bale scored his second seven minutes from time in a 3-1 Madrid victory.
In his post-match conference, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp expressed fears Salah would miss the 2018 World Cup, but the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) tweeted a statement saying there was “optimism” the Egyptian would be fit for their Group A opener against Uruguay on June 15.
Al-Sheikh used social media to give support to Salah before the final but, in a Facebook post on Sunday, he claimed the Premier League golden boot winner World Cup dream was over, which is at odds with the EFA’s official line.
“With great sadness, sadly our great Arab star Mohamed Salah was confirmed in his absence [of] two months to injury, which means that he will miss the World Cup,” he said. “We wish him a speedy recovery.
“I think that Liverpool will not allow Salah to take the cortisone because it is dangerous for the player in the long term and will press hard to complete the treatment for two months, which unfortunately means that we will not see the star Mohamed Salah in the World Cup.”
Saudi Arabia have also been drawn in Egypt’s World Cup group alongside Russia and Al-Sheikh caused controversy in March when he tweeted to suggest it would be beneficial for Mohamed Salah to miss the round-robin match against the Gulf state.
“When it comes to Twitter, I speak as fan and not as a minister,” he told Four Four Two Arabia when talking about the incident this month.
“When I commented on the Saudi team, it was because of excitement. I may make mistakes and I might be right and I might be harsh in some of the terms I use.
Click below to follow us for more football updates…
Facebook – @Livesoccerupdates
Twitter – @Lsoccerupdates
Instagram – @Lsoccerupdates
“But when it comes to Mohamed Salah, he’s a great Arab player and has allowed us to lift our heads high as Arabs. I am a fan.
“But what I wish is he wouldn’t play against our team during that match [at the World Cup]. I want to miss him during this match, just this match.”
