Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah makes VAR claim and lifts lid on 'competition' with Egyptian FA

Mohamed Salah admits he doesn't like VAR - but anticipates being awarded a lot more penalties for Liverpool this season due to the new technology.

The Premier League's use of VAR has already courted controversy, not least when Manchester City had an injury-time winner ruled out against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Salah believes mistakes, whether by the players or the officials, are a part of what makes football so exciting.

But the Egyptian is confident the greater scrutiny of challenges inside the area will work to his advantage over the campaign.

"I don't like it... that's my answer, always," said Salah of VAR. "I don't like it.

"I love football how it is. It's like that with the mistakes of the referee, with the aggression from the player sometimes.

Louis Fowler speaks to the ECHO about running into a lamppost trying to meet Mo Salah

"It's okay sometimes to protect the players from dangerous play. But okay, that's it, in my opinion, that could be the only reason that happened, just to protect the players.

"But for me, I accepted the football with the mistakes of the referee, mistakes of the player, I don't know, whatever. That's how the football gets more excited.

"(VAR will mean) More penalties for me, you will see that."

Mohamed Salah opens the scoring from the penalty spot in the UEFA Champions League final between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in Madrid (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Salah, speaking to CNN, also addressed Egypt's failure at this summer's Africa Cup of Nations, where as host nation they were knocked out in the round of 16 by South Africa.

The Liverpool player has previously been critical of the Egyptian FA and has referred to the "competition" he believes the authorities are trying to create.

“We didn’t perform at the top level – I’m not just talking about as players but as a team, but there was a lot of pressure,” said Salah.

"For the players in the national team, they were not happy about a lot of things.

“The federation take it as a competition with me. My position’s a little bit different than the players, so not because I’m a star, but because it makes me comfortable.

"For example, African Nations, we went in the hotel and people come to the hotel very easy, they sit downstairs, which is not normal. We had one day off and I couldn’t go down from the room until 9.30pm.

“When I tried to go down, 200 people were with me. And they say, ‘Why are you complaining?’ I complain because I’m a human being, I want to be with the players.”