Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed why he left Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah out of the Reds' squad for their FA Cup quarter-final clash on the weekend.
Klopp's African stars were omitted from Liverpool's matchday squad against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, with the German tactician seemingly wanting both players fully fit for their titanic 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-offs.
Salah has been struggling with a foot injury since the Merseyside club came away from Brighton Hove Albion's Amex Stadium with a 2-0 victory.
In last week's match against Arsenal, he was only able to start from the bench because of the same injury, and his manager says it is still a lingering issue.
"Mo felt the foot again from the Brighton game. [It's] not massive, but it was clear that you would not be in a game like this if you have a little bit of pain here, or there," the ex-Borussia Dortmund manager said following his side's 1-0 win over the EFL Championship side on Sunday, according to KingFut.
In the case of his Senegalese winger, the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League-winning boss did not want to risk Mane's fitness with a fixture the magnitude of Senegal's World Cup play-off qualifier against Egypt on the horizon.
"There is no chance. In that moment, it was clear that we will not use Sadio for the game because the game is too big in Africa," he explained.
"I don't want to be twice the one who is doing things like that, which could be misunderstood. The others were all unavailable. Mo was unavailable, only Sadio we left out."
Salah and Mane will face off against each other on 25 and 29 March to see which of their respective nations will book a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year.
The Lions of Teranga defeated the Pharaohs via a penalty shootout in the final of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in February, and this qualifier will be the first time they meet since.
