Salah ‘confident’ of making World Cup
Egypt believe he will be fit within three weeks Robertson says Ramos foul was ‘quite clever’
Mohamed Salah told fans last night that he was confident of making the World Cup despite damaging shoulder ligaments in the Champions League final.
The Egyptian forward’s participation in next month’s tournament was thrown into doubt almost as soon as he was substituted 30 minutes into Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid.
With the World Cup in Russia beginning on June 14, it was feared that the winner of both Premier League player of the season awards would miss out on the tournament.
However, it appears the early prognosis on his injury is positive. Salah provided his encouraging update and Egypt’s national federation believes the 25-year-old could actually be fit in between 10 days’ and three weeks’ time. “It was a very tough night, but I’m a fighter,” Salah wrote on Twitter. “Despite the odds, I’m confident that I’ll be in Russia to make you all proud. Your love and support will give me the strength I need.”
The news should appease Egyptian fans who reacted with panicked fury to the sight of the Real defender Sergio Ramos landing on Salah’s shoulder during the match in Kiev. Egypt have qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1990 and Salah, by some distance, is their most influential player.
On the front page of the daily newspaper Al-masry al-youm, a picture of a tearful Salah was headlined: “The night Egyptians cried: Ramos the butcher dislocated Abu Salah’s shoulder.”
John Casson, the British ambassador to Egypt, watched the match at a cafe. “Everyone at the cafe is upset,” he wrote. “It’s all your fault, Ramos.”
In a country suffering an economic crisis and political repression, Salah has emerged as a beacon of hope, connecting with the common man through his apparent humility and devotion to Islam. Ramos, for his part, was quick to deny that he intentionally hurt Salah and wished him a swift recovery. “Sometimes football shows you it’s good side and other times the bad,” he wrote. “Above all, we are fellow pros. Getwellsoon @ Mosalah.”
That did not slow the rapid circulation of an online petition calling for the Spaniard to be punished, with it attracting 100,000 signatures within 15 hours of the final. The Liverpool defender Andy Robertson, however, said to blame Ramos for their defeat was “clutching at straws”. “I think it is just how he [Salah] has landed but Ramos is quite clever, isn’t he?” Robertson said. “We are clutching at straws if we are saying that. It’s unfortunate. It just disrupted our rhythm a wee bit.
“He has done unbelievable this season and for it to end that way for him was devastating. I hope he goes to the World Cup as a nation is a relying on him. Hopefully he’ll come back bigger and stronger.
“How many records has Mo broken? But he will probably look back on it as a disappointment because that’s what happens when you go to a final and lose. We had our chance to be heroes, to make our own history, but it was not meant to be.”