Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has suffered an injury scare while on international duty with Egypt – after scoring a goal directly from a corner.
The 26-year-old suffered what Egypt assistant coach Hany Ramzy described as a “muscle strain” and left the field a minute into second-half injury-time with his leg heavily strapped, having attempted to return to action after treatment.
“The initial diagnosis confirmed that the injury is a muscle strain and there is no possibility of muscle rupture,” Ramzy said. “It is not a big injury. We support him with all our energy and we hope he will return as soon as possible.”
But while there will be fears over his fitness on Merseyside with Liverpool due to take on Huddersfield Town next Saturday when the Premier League returns to kick-off a busy run of domestic and European fixtures, there will at least be solace taken in seeing Salah back among goals – albeit in the most extraordinary of fashions.
The forward took an in-swinging corner during the 4-1 victory over Swaziland on Friday night that caught out the goalkeeper and found the back of the net, scoring his fourth goal of the season in what has been – by last season’s standards – a slow start to the campaign.
Egypt travel to Swaziland on Tuesday for the return fixture against the side ranked 136th in the world by Fifa, though it is not yet known if Salah will be considered for the Africa Cup of Nations Group J qualifying match at the Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini.
Ahmed Elmohamady, Amr Warda and Mohamed 'Trezeguet' Hassan completed the scoring for Egypt, with Sibonginkhosi Gamedze netting Swaziland’s consolation effort five minutes from time.
