Mohamed Salah took aim at Jamie Carragher in an extraordinary rant where he opened the door to an imminent Liverpool exit.
The 33-year-old was benched for a third consecutive outing in Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds, prompting him to approach the media after the game and go on a tirade against the club.
Salah claimed Liverpool have thrown him “under the bus” by saying he has been made a scapegoat, before revealing he doesn’t have a relationship with manager Arne Slot any more and accusing the club of breaking their promises to him.
But as well as lambasting the club’s hierarchy, Salah namedropped Reds legend-turned-pundit Carragher, with whom he has long had a love-hate relationship.
Carragher has been one to criticise Salah in the recent past and after this explosive interview, the Egyptian can already see the retort that’s coming.
“After what I have done for the club it really hurts,” he said. “You can imagine, really.
“After going from home to the club and you don’t know if you are starting. I know the club too well, I have been here many years. Tomorrow Carragher is going to go for me again and again and that’s fine.”
Salah is the third highest scorer in Liverpool’s history with 250 goals, but was omitted after they lost six of their previous seven league games. He had never previously been left out for two consecutive matches before sitting out the last three, and he was an unused substitute in two of them.
The Egyptian, who signed a lucrative two-year contract in April, has only managed five goals in all competitions this term, leading to Carragher to claim his “legs were gone” last month.
“I don’t like criticising them on the pitch, because they’re absolutely legendary what they’ve done, and the legs have just gone, especially with Salah,” Carragher said.
Salah was enraged that the narrative has turned against him, insisting he does not know what he has done to lose his place in the team.
He added: “How I see it now is like you throw Mo under the bus because he is the problem in the team now. But I don’t think I am the problem. I have done so much for this club.
“The respect, I want to get. I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it. I am not bigger than anyone but I earned my position. It’s football. It is what it is.”
Salah equalled a Premier League record last season by contributing to 47 goals, scoring 29 and assisting 18, but lost his place in November.
He has cast doubt on his future by saying he will wave goodbye to Liverpool fans against Brighton next week – and that he is not sure what will happen after the African Cup of Nations.
