Mohamed Salah could feature for Liverpool when they face Leicester in the Premier League on Thursday but fellow forward Sadio Mane will miss out, manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed.
Mane scored the winning penalty in the shootout between his Senegal side and Salah’s Egypt in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final.
Striker Salah underwent a recovery session on Merseyside on Tuesday but Mane is not due to fly back until Wednesday evening after travelling to Senegal to celebrate.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane danced as his side celebrated winning the Africa Cup of Nations (Themba Hadebe/AP)
“Mo is now back, I spoke already to him,” Klopp told the club’s website.
“He is very disappointed of course, but looking forward to all the things coming up here now.
“Pretty much the first thing Mo told me was ‘I’m ready’. He is an experienced player, he is a physical monster, to be honest, so we have to see.”
Speaking about Mane’s role in Senegal’s triumph, Klopp added: “It means the world to him, it means the world to his people, it means the world to Senegal and we respect that a lot and we would never consider to have called him back from there or whatever.
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“Let them do what they do in the moment because they deserve it.
“They’ve had an incredibly intense time, so when he is back, we will talk to him and we will see how we can use him.”
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