Mohamed Salah was substituted with a suspected groin injury 52 minutes into Liverpool’s visit from Manchester City on Wednesday.
Manager Jurgen Klopp said the Egyptian international will undergo further tests in the coming days to determine the damage.
However, Salah seemed upbeat about his chances of a swift recovery.
“After the game I asked him and he said, ‘I will be good, it will be fine.’ But now we have to wait for the real diagnosis, not Mo’s self-diagnosis,” Klopp said. “We will see, I don’t know at the moment.”
The former Roma winger scored and assisted for Sadio Mane in a first half that saw the Reds take a 3-0 lead in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final bout.
Related – Watch: Liverpool stuns Manchester City with 30-minute trio
Georginio Wijnaldum was introduced in Salah’s stead, as Jurgen Klopp’s side uncharacteristically seemed to begin trying to preserve its clean sheet and three-goal lead at Anfield.
The reverse fixture is set for next Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium, but Liverpool first faces Merseyside rival Everton to begin Saturday’s Premier League action.
Covered Vikings for Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1999-2008
AUSTIN, Texas — Quarterback Johnny Manziel played in a football game Saturday for the first time in 832 days, a modest step in his long road back to elite-level football.
Playing the equivalent of two quarters at a high school stadium in the Austin suburbs, Manziel threw one touchdown pass but was also sacked three times in what looked like the fourth quarter of an NFL preseason game. The outing followed nine days of practice among 170 players who paid a fee to participate in The Spring League, which bills itself as a developmental league that provides opportunities for players who are not on NFL rosters but hope to be.
Johnny Manziel played in a football game for the first time in almost three years Saturday, hoping to garner interest from NFL teams. Eric Gay/AP Photo
Manziel completed his first seven passes and finished with nine completions in 15 attempts for 82 yards. He said he was frustrated with the sloppy nature of the game but made clear he was thrilled to have returned to the field.
“It’s disappointing, some of the things that happened,” he said, “but nevertheless, it’s a huge step for me. I put pads back on. A lot of people wrote me off just to even get to this point. I’m definitely emotional about it. I’m definitely happy about it. This isn’t the end goal for me, but I’m having fun again. I have a smile on my face.”
The league has one more set of games scheduled for April 12, after which Manziel hopes to receive interest from NFL teams. If not, he has said he likely will make a two-year commitment to play in the Canadian Football League.
“The message that I’m sending is showing up every day and going to meetings,” he said. “Being engaged in everything that is going on during practice and in the game. I can’t control what is going on [with NFL teams’ interests] and I don’t know what’s going on in NFL meetings. If that’s the case, if the NFL is something that pops up, cool. If not, I’m going to work until I get back there. We’ll see how things play out.”
Manziel’s CFL rights are owned by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Their general manager, Eric Tillman, was among the NFL and CFL representatives in attendance. A total of 17 NFL teams have sent scouts to practices, according to The Spring League CEO Brian Woods.
Manziel attended high school about two hours away in Kerrville, Texas, and most of the estimated 2,500 in attendance Saturday at Kelly Reeves Stadium appeared to be in support of their local hero. Manziel showed some glimpses of his playmaking ability, leaving the pocket twice for completions — including the touchdown — while also producing scrambles of 11 and 10 yards. The competition was inferior to what he would face either in the NFL or the CFL, but he gave scouts of both leagues an important check-in on his progress.
“You can get there only by working in this kind of environment,” said Terry Shea, a longtime NFL and college coach who is leading The Spring League’s football operations. “If he were back home throwing to his buddies against air, he wouldn’t get any of this, so from this standpoint, I would say he’s really grown here.
“I’ve never been around Johnny Manziel until this moment of time, but I see a very quick arm. I see very active eyes. He sees things, and those classic Johnny Manziel plays, particularly when he’s on the move, I’ve seen those come up here.”
NFL teams are opening their offseason programs this month. CFL training camps start May 16 for rookies, and the league’s regular season begins June 14.
Realistically, Manziel has about a month to decide whether to hold out for an NFL job or make a two-year commitment to the CFL. If it’s the latter, he wouldn’t be eligible to play in the NFL until November 2019 at the earliest.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expects Mohamed Salah to be available for next week’s Champions League quarter-final encounter with Manchester City after deciding to leave him off the matchday squad for Saturday’s Merseyside derby.
Salah picked up a groin injury in the second half of the first-leg quarter-final victory over Manchester City.
Although he failed to overcome the problem in time for the final Merseyside derby of the season, Klopp is confident that Salah, along with Andy Robertson who was also ruled out of Liverpool’s clash with Everton through injury, will be ready when the Reds travel to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
“Mo (Salah), he’s injured,” Klopp said. “I don’t think it is really serious and he can be available for Tuesday but for today he wasn’t available. It’s the same with (Andy Robertson).”
Salah, who scored the opener in Liverpool’s 3-0 triumph over City on Wednesday, sits two goals back of the Premier League single-season scoring record in a 38-match season after finding the back of the net 29 times in 31 appearances.
If he manages to regain fitness, he will have a chance to break the record – which is shared by Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Luis Suarez – next weekend when Liverpool takes on Bournemouth.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was not injured when he was involved in a collision with a dump truck in Atlanta, a team official confirmed.
The Atlanta Police Department confirmed to ESPN that the collision occurred Thursday but neither party wanted to fill out a police report.
It was not clear which party caused the accident.
Newton, according to TMZ Sports, was driving a black Ferrari F12 that is valued at more than $300,000.
The 2015 NFL MVP, who is from Atlanta, in December 2014 suffered a fractured bone in his back when his truck overturned after being struck by another vehicle near Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Newton spent the night in a hospital after that accident and missed one game.
