Mohamed Salah has been picked to start for Liverpool against Marseille by Arne Slot in his first game back from AFCON.
The Egyptian superstar, who was knocked out of the tournament in the semi-final stage against Senegal, left Merseyside under the cloud of his explosive disagreement with Slot last month.
While Salah’s future appeared to hang in the balance with the Reds, the pair had peace talks and the 33-year-old is back with the group and has been selected to play.
When asked on TNT Sports if this is a clean slate and fresh start from both perspectives, Slot said: ‘I think with Mo, since I’ve been here was only not in the squad once, Inter away for reasons I spoke about back then, all the other games he was there and the last game before AFCON he came in before the 20 minute mark.
‘The moments I didn’t play him once or twice we were struggling and I tried something else. Although we want better results than 12 unbeaten, we steadied the ship if you want to say it like that and now we sometimes miss goals from all the chances we have and all the ball possession we have.
‘If there’s one player in the history of Liverpool that showed that he can still score goals it’s Mo Salah. Let’s hope we can keep our balance in terms of not conceding a lot and if we can create as much I’m sure Mo would be one of the players that is able to score a goal.’
Mo Salah is in Liverpool’s starting line-up for their trip to Marseille in the Champions League
Liverpool face a tricky test against Roberto de Zerbi’s men in the south of France tonight in the Champions League.
And having solidified the defence in recent weeks on an unbeaten run, it is now the attack coming under the microscope.
No doubt the return of Salah is a massive boost in that regard and it will be fascinating to see how Slot uses his star man in the weeks ahead.
If Slot opts to bench Salah in the coming games, as he did prior to the winger’s decision to go public with an explosive interview in which he claimed he had ‘no relationship’ with the boss and was ‘being thrown under the bus’, the same issues could arise as before AFCON.
But the Dutch manager said the word ‘happy’ four times when asked about Salah and insisted: ‘I am really happy and pleased he is back.
‘In his absence I think we have done quite OK in terms of hardly conceding any chances and starting to create more and more. If you create more and more, then it is really helpful to have Mohamed Salah.
‘There has only been one (alive Liverpool player past or present) who scored more for this club but I don’t think I can play Ian Rush still! Then it is really helpful to have him back.
‘We will never know but the amount of chances and ball possession against Burnley (on Saturday)… with Mo we would usually score more.’
Arne Slot insisted he is happy to have Salah back despite their pre-AFCON argument
Slot was asked about a rift between him and his star forward but insisted: ‘Let’s see for the line-up if you still think there’s an issue.
‘He went to AFCON and did what he usually does and scored goals, unfortunately Egypt couldn’t win, and now he’s back with us.’
Salah certainly found his groove at AFCON, scoring four goals and registering an assist, though they came unstuck in the semis against eventual champions Senegal and then lost to Nigeria on penalties in the third-place play-off. Salah saw his effort saved.
All the same, it is a step up on the form he displayed for Liverpool prior to AFCON. He only managed two goals and one assist in the 13 games he featured in in the build-up to the international tournament.
Liverpool face a tough test in the cauldron of the Velodrome in Marseille where a win would be a giant step towards qualifying for the Champions League last 16.
Salah scored four goals and bagged an assist at AFCON, though Egypt only finished fourth
Salah reached the final in 2017 and 2022 but he has never won Africa’s premier competition
The Reds go into their clash sat 11th in the league phase table, but only finishing in the top eight is good enough to automatically reach the last 16. If they finish between ninth and 24th, they will have to negotiate a two-legged play-off phase in February.
Slot rubbished fan talk of Xabi Alonso, who was sacked at Real Madrid last week, wanting his job at Liverpool and joked: ‘Yes he called me and said, “what do you think about the team because I am going to take over in six months, can you tell me a little bit more?!”
‘Or maybe earlier, maybe he takes over tomorrow. No. This is one of the weirdest questions I ever got.’
