One of the heartbreaking moment for Liverpool fans during Saturday's Champions League final was to see their talismanic player Mohamed Salah leave the pitch in tears. Just half an hour into the game the Egyptian hurt himself in a challenge with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp revealed that Salah's injury was "serious".
"It is a serious injury. He is in hospital for an X-ray. It is either the collarbone or the shoulder itself," Klopp said after Liverpool's 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the final in Kiev. "It doesn't look good. That's it," said Klopp after the match on Saturday.
Salah later left the NSC Olimpiyskyi stadium with his arm in a sling, not stopping for waiting journalists. That injury has cast a shadow on Salah's participation in FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.
The official Twitter account of the Egyptian team tweeted that the medical staff of Liverpool team has informed them that Salah has injured ligaments in the shoulder joint. The medical team is optimistic that Salah will be ready to play for the Egypt football team in the upcoming world cup (sic).
But according to various media reports, Saudi Arabian sports administrator Turki Al-Sheikh said that the Pharoh's star will be out of action for two months after that nasty challenge.
Al-Sheikh is chairman of the Saudi Arabia Sport Authority and president of the Sports Federation of Islamic Solidarity. In a Facebook post he said, "With great sadness, sadly our great Arab star Mohamed Salah was confirmed in his absence (for) two months to injury, which means that he will miss the World Cup. We wish him a speedy recovery.
"I think that Liverpool will not allow Salah to take the cortisone because it is dangerous for the player in the long term and will press hard to complete the treatment for two months, which unfortunately means that we will not see the star Mohamed Salah in the World Cup."
The 25-year-old footie has been hoping to lead Egypt in their first appearance at the tournament since 1990, but their opening match is against Uruguay on June 15, less than three weeks from now.
Until Salah's injury, Liverpool had been on top, but following the shocking incident, they went on to lose due to a combination of two goalkeeping howlers by Loris Karius and a superb Gareth Bale goal.
Liverpool coach Klopp believed losing Salah was the turning point.
"Of course it was a big moment in the game. I know if you say that after you lost it sounds like you're a bad loser but for us it was like a harsh challenge. It was like wrestling. The shock of the boys was obvious."
"We wanted everything and got nothing. We lost an important player and probably Egypt lost for the World Cup an important player. From what I said so far it doesn't look really good."
(With PTI Inputs)
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 "Mohamed Salah")
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