Africa Cup of Nations: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah forced with injury ...

Updated 18/01/2024 at 23:55 GMT

Mohamed Salah was forced to come off with an injury during Egypt’s group stage match against Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Liverpool striker limped off the field of play on the stroke of half-time, having gone down requiring treatment for a suspected hamstring injury.

He was replaced by Mostafa Fathi, with the captain’s armband going to defender Ahmed Hegazi.

Egypt were dealt another blow just moments later. Mohammed Kudus’s powerful strike from outside the penalty box gave Ghana a 1-0 lead heading into half-time.

Omar Marmoush leveled for the Pharaohs after the break before Ghana retook the lead with Kudus' second of the night. Mostafa Mohamed stabbed home a second equaliser as the match finished 2-2.

Egypt manager Rui Vitoria admitted it was too early to tell whether Salah had picked up a serious injury or not.

"I hope not (a big problem)," he said. "We don’t know yet what the problem is. I hope it’s not a big problem but it was a problem in the first-half.

"It was difficult timing for us because in the second half, we could only make two substitutions. But now, I don't know. It's early to see something, I think it’s not dangerous but let’s see if Salah recovers."

Mohamed Salah reacts after being injured during the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2024 group B football match between Egypt and Ghana at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium

Image credit: Getty Images

Salah’s substitution will be of concern to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, whose team has already been depleted by injury.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are among the players currently on the sidelines.

Klopp appeared confident Liverpool would "deal" with Salah's absence during the Africa Cup of Nations, insisting the club’s attacking options such as Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were sufficient "solutions".

"We have to get through this," he said. "We know the Africa Cup of Nations appears and Mo has to go, and so we have to deal with it, that was always clear."

The encounter against Ghana is Egypt’s second match of Group B where they sit second after two games but will likely need a win from their final match against Cape Verde if they are to progress to the round of 16.

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