Mohamed Salah is set to start Liverpool’s Europa League last-16 second leg against Sparta Prague, but manager Jürgen Klopp is concerned whether the No.11 can play the entire 90 minutes.
Salah has not appeared in the Reds’ starting lineup since New Year’s Day, when he acquired a muscle injury while on Africa Cup of Nations duty in January, and then suffered a setback while scoring on his return from the bench at Brentford last month.
However, the Egyptian has appeared as a substitute in each of his team’s past two games – the first leg in Czechia, which Liverpool won 5-1, and Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City – and may start Thursday’s encounter at Anfield.
“It’s possible he could have played longer in the last game [against City], but it was just the game, as it was,” Klopp stated during Wednesday’s pre-match press conference.
“It’s critical that we build up Mo, obviously, but in this game, changing at half-time was neither essential nor possible [because] we have to handle with adjustments cautiously.
“So, yes, he is ready. He is in excellent shape, everything is in order, and we no longer have to deal with such issues. I’m not sure he’s ready for 90 minutes, and I’m not sure we should do 90 minutes, but he’s eager to get started, so that’s how it goes.
“He would have been ready to start the final game, but you never know how long it makes sense, which is always a concern when players return.
“I can’t recall a game where I thought, ‘Mo Salah can’t play, no issue.’ It just never occurred, so it’s not cool not to have him, but there was a game last Sunday, and there are ten more Premier League games, as well as hopefully many more cup and European games. They were all equally essential, and Mo was perfectly OK with it.
“Would he have liked to play a little longer?” Probably, but I can’t decide when we’re going to do what before the game starts. But he’s eager to begin.
“Should that mean 90 minutes on the pitch? That depends on how it appears at the time, but as we all know, Mo can typically play game after game after game.
“Now he was out for a surprisingly long time, but now he is back and we have to make sure that we can really count on him consistently again.”
