Salah Still Has AFCON Finals Defeat in His Mind – Jurgen Klopp

Mohamed Salah reached the final round of Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. His team however, failed to bring the trophy back home, as they suffered a defeat to Senegal in the penalties.

Salah has already returned to Liverpool, but his Senegalese teammate Mane has been given extra time to celebrate the AFCON triumph with his team mates.

Commenting on Salah’s mental situation after the AFCON defeat, coach Jurgen Klopp said that the Egyptian is still disappointed, but he can benefit from his pain.

“He’s very disappointed, obviously,” Klopp said. “Losing a final is always really, really hard – we can sing that song – but losing the way they lost it is especially hard. That’s what he felt, as well.

“He’s happy to be back, but he’s disappointed as well – massively so. We spoke obviously, about the tournament, everything, and he will deal with that of course. I hope today will be already better, but yesterday everybody could see he still has the final on his mind.”

He added:

“But I don’t think there’s a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind. He is very determined.

“Using these kinds of things is the job for all of us when you lose a final – we are obviously the best example for that. When you lose a final, it’s really hard, really, really hard. But when you use it for the next big game or next big tournament, then it can be at least helpful when it was still hard.

Liverpool should be playing Leicester city on 10th February with Salah sure to be among the main attraction.