Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah could ‘benefit’ from AFCON final heartache

Jurgen Klopp has said that Mohamed Salah could “benefit” from the agony of losing the Africa Cup of Nations final with Egypt, using the pain of defeat to spur him on for the challenges ahead.

Salah was on the losing side when Egypt took on Senegal at the Olembe Stadium last weekend. Following a goalless 120 minutes, Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane scored the winning penalty in the decisive shoot-out.

Asked about his No 11’s state of mind on returning to training ahead of Liverpool’s midweek meeting with Leicester, Klopp suggested that Salah was upset but not despondent. “He is very disappointed obviously, it was a massive thing,” said the Liverpool manager.

“Losing a final is always really, really hard – I can sing that song.

“But losing the way they lost it is especially hard and that’s what he felt as well. So, yes, he is happy to be back but he is disappointed as well, massively so.

“We spoke obviously about the tournament and everything and we will see. He will deal with that, of course, and I hope that today it will already be better, but yesterday everybody could see he still has the final in his mind.”

Salah is in contention to start against Leicester, who will have to hope they don’t provide a convenient outlet for his frustrations. Asked whether Salah’s AFCON experience could give him extra determination to succeed with Liverpool this season, Klopp said: “Greater determination than Mo already had? I’m not sure that’s human.

“Playing a tournament, not knowing where it will go, to then qualifying in the hardest possible manner for the final… then, against the favourite, [trying] to win the tournament, playing a game like Egypt played was an absolutely great final when you think about what they already invested before, both teams, and how hard they fought. Especially Egypt, how hard they fought to keep them quiet, these incredible talents of Senegal.

“So, yes, that all helps in the long term, but I don’t think there’s a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind. He is very determined and using these kinds of things is a job for all of us.

“When you lose a final, and we are obviously the best example for that, that’s really hard, really, really hard. But if you use it for the next big game or the next big tournament then it can be at least helpful, even when it was still hard.

“So he will benefit from it, we will benefit from it, but in which kind exactly, I don’t know.”

As for Liverpool’s ambitions for the rest of the season, Klopp said: “For us at least, it never happened that in this point of the year we are still in all four competitions. So that’s special.

“We came through this with a really tricky situation, so like having two of the best strikers in the world [Salah and Mane] definitely not available and with Naby Keita, a world-class midfielder, not available, and past injuries and stuff like this.

“So the boys did a good job. But now, how I said, we have to again clear our minds and go for it with all freshness, with all desire, with all determination, all these kind of things.

“We don’t go now for the Premier League. We just go into a Premier League game with all we have and that’s the plan.”

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