Alexis Mac Allister has offered his take on the current injury situation of Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah.
Having been away at AFCON with Egypt, Salah has recently returned to the Reds for rehab on a hamstring issue. With Liverpool qualifying for the Carabao Cup final last night, there’ll now be concern that their talisman could miss that game.
The final is four weeks away, on February 25th. That appears to be right at the top end of when Liverpool are expecting Salah to be back.
And right after last night’s aggregate win over Fulham, beIN SPORTS asked Mac Allister whether he was hoping his teammate would be available for the trip to Wembley.
“I hope so because everyone knows how important he is for the team, he’s one of our leaders,” said the Argentine.
“So, I hope he comes back soon and healthy, that’s the most important thing. He’s a very professional guy, a very nice guy so we all want him back as soon as possible and hopefully he’ll be ready for this game.”
Mac Allister hopeful over Salah
Of course, whether Salah is fit to face Chelsea or not is not up to Mac Allister. But he won’t be the only one crossing everything that the 31-year-old will be ready.
Since arriving in 2017, Mo has achieved just about everything at Liverpool. However, perhaps the one thing just missing from his legacy is a big goal in a final.
He did bury the penalty in the opening stages of the Champions League final in 2019, that’s true. But if we’re being honest, a penalty goal so early into the game doesn’t really resonate quite as much.
Take Steven Gerrard, for example. Gerrard is one of the players Salah is matched up against in talk of just who is Liverpool’s greatest ever player.
When it came to big goals in finals, Stevie G was the man. The Scouser even has an FA Cup final named after him, that’s how influential he was.
For Mo, he’s still very much lagging behind in that respect. The final of this same competition went goal-less in 2022, before Salah was actually subbed off with an issue in the FA Cup showpiece in May. He only managed 33 minutes in that one.
Being a man who keeps an eye on these types of things, Mo will be aware of this. He’ll be as desperate as anyone to get out there and make a difference next month.
As Mac Allister says, hopefully he’ll be able to do that. With not that long to go before the big game though, it’s now a race against the clock.
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