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Liverpool are hopeful that Mohamed Salah will return from injury in the FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City on Saturday as the Egypt international prepares for his emotional farewell tour.
Salah missed Liverpool’s defeat at Brighton before the international break with a muscle problem sustained in the Champions League rout of Galatasaray. The 33-year-old forward, who announced last week that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season, was also forced to miss Egypt’s friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Spain. The Pharaohs face the latter in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Salah has responded well to treatment and there is confidence he will be involved at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, when Arne Slot’s side embark on a sequence of fixtures that could define their season.
Alexander Isak may also be available for the first time since fracturing a leg at Tottenham in December, although the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday next week is considered a more realistic date for his comeback. The £125m British‑record signing is expected to resume team training this week.
There is less encouraging fitness news on Alisson, however, with the Liverpool first-choice goalkeeper still nursing a hamstring injury sustained on the eve of the Brighton game. Alisson, 33, has experienced repeated hamstring injuries in recent seasons and remains a major doubt for the trip to Parc des Princes, where he performed heroics last season to help Liverpool to win their Champions League last-16 first leg.
Florian Wirtz, meanwhile, has claimed he has become a stronger player as a result of the problems he encountered after moving to Liverpool. The Germany international joined for a then club-record £116m from Bayer Leverkusen last summer but has struggled to impose himself in the Premier League, producing four goals and two assists. Speaking to the German television programme Sportschau, however, the 22-year-old insisted he was adapting to the physical nature of English football after a difficult start.
“It wasn’t an easy phase,” Wirtz said on his first few months at Liverpool. “It’s sometimes good that things don’t always go upwards and that you experience a dip and grow stronger because of it. That’s how I see it now as well – it has made me a bit stronger. I had to overcome resistance and adapt. I had to learn to become stronger and hold on to the ball.”
