Salah and Ramos likely to meet again in WC knockout stage

MOHAMED SALAH and Sergio Ramos could be reunited as soon as next month should the Liverpool forward recover from injury in time to play at the World Cup.

The Egyptian Football Federation are confident that Salah’s injury is only going to keep him out for three-to-four weeks and that timescale would see him likely miss just the Pharoahs’ opening group game against Group A favourites Uruguay.

But should he return for matches against Saudi Arabia and hosts Russia then there is reason to believe Egypt could qualify in second place for the last 16, putting them on collision course with Spain and Egyptian public enemy No. 1, Sergio Ramos.

Spain are the favourites in Group B, where they’ve been drawn with Portugal, Morocco and Iran in one of the more intriguing foursomes. And despite being paired with European Champions Portugal, there is confidence that La Roja will be back to their best after the debacle of 2014 and should compete for honours in Russia.

Should Spain top their group then they will face the runner-up from Group A, where Egypt are likely to battle Russia – officially the lowest-ranked hosts of any World Cup in history – and Saudi Arabia, who haven’t won a World Cup game in nearly a quarter of a century, since their best-ever World Cup showing at USA 1994.

It means a Ramos-Salah reunion on July 1st and Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium is a highly-probably knockout game, and one that won’t be short of interest given the events of Kiev.

Nearly half a million people have signed an online petition calling for FIFA and UEFA to punish Sergio Ramos for “intentionally hurting Mohamed Salah” in Saturday night’s Champions League final.

A petition on change.org to see the Madrid captain banned for the challenge has more than 490,000 signatures.

“Sergio Ramos intentionally kept Mohamed Salah’s arm under his armpit, causing dislocation of his shoulder,” claims the petition.

“Not only missing the rest of the game, but also missing the Fifa World Cup 2018.

“In addition he kept acting that Liverpool players fouled him falsely, causing the referee to give Mane a yellow card he did not deserve.

“Sergio Ramos represents an awful example to future generations of football players. Instead of winning matches fairly, he uses tricks that defy the spirit of the game and fair play.

“Uefa and Fifa should take measures against Ramos and similar players, using the video recordings of matches to keep the spirit of the game.” – Agencies