How likely are Liverpool to recall Mo Salah for Saturday after latest AFCON heartbreak for Egypt

Another Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will come and go for Mo Salah without tasting glory with Egypt, who were beaten 1-0 by Senegal in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The Liverpool winger has now played in five different editions of the tournament without winning the trophy, coming closest in 2017 and 2022 when his nation were beaten in the final by Cameroon and Senegal respectively.

With the superstar forward turning 34 in June, it now looks increasingly likely that one of Africa’s greatest-ever players will go his entire career without becoming a continental champion for his country, despite all the tangible success he’s had at club level and his phenomenal individual achievements.

Salah has one more match to play at AFCON

Salah and Egypt were downed by a late Sadio Mane goal in their semi-final in Tangier, although they still have one more match to play at the tournament, the dreaded third place play-off against Nigeria on Saturday.

That game will overlap with Liverpool’s Premier League fixture at home to Burnley, but despite the match at Anfield being of far greater competitive significance, it’s unlikely that his club will recall him to face the Clarets.

As per Liverpool.com, LFC are understood to be ‘respectful’ of the fact that the Pharaohs have one more game at AFCON, so the likelihood is that the 33-year-old will stay on for that and then return to Merseyside.

When will Salah next be involved for Liverpool?

It won’t be lost on the Reds’ hierarchy that Egypt obliged them by omitting him from a friendly against Cape Verde in November after they’d already clinched World Cup qualification, and his national team boss Hossam Hassan was criticial of the player when he left AFCON early two years ago after getting injured at the tournament.

Liverpool would obviously much rather have Salah available to face Burnley than see him stay in Morocco for a largely meaningless fixture, but there might also be a consciousness about maintaining a cordial relationship with the Egyptian FA over the winger.

Arne Slot’s side have remained unbeaten throughout the 33-year-old’s absence, and they should be able to navigate one more match without him before he (ideally) returns to his club for the Champions League trip to Marseille next Wednesday.

Of course, there may still be some bridges to mend at Anfield following his stormy public outburst after the 3-3 draw at Leeds a few weeks ago, and Kopites will be expecting a response on the pitch from a player whose goal tally of five is abnormally low for this stage of the season.

It might take a few more days, but hopefully we’ll see Salah back in a Liverpool shirt at the Stade Velodrome next week, and he can be reintegrated into the Reds’ line-up without any lingering tension from what happened at Elland Road.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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