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Mo Salah starts on Liverpool bench against Brighton

Mo Salah arrives at Anfield ahead of Premier League clash with Brighton
Mo Salah arrives at Anfield ahead of Premier League clash with Brighton

Mo Salah has been named on the Liverpool bench for the Premier League visit of Brighton to Anfield.

The Egyptian superstar has returned to the squad after being dropped for Inter Milan midweek, having criticised manager Arne Slot last weekend.

Record signing Alexander Isak is also among the substitutes as Slot goes with a front three of Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai.

The Egypt forward was left out of the Reds' travelling squad for the Champions League tie away to Inter Milan on Tuesday night following his extraordinary outburst after the Premier League match at Leeds on Saturday.

He instead reported for training at the club's Kirkby base on Tuesday morning and posted a picture of himself in the training ground gym.

Salah signed a new contract in April which made him the club's highest-paid player, but said following the Reds' match at Leeds that he had been "thrown under the bus" by the Merseyside club.

Salah said he was "very, very disappointed" to have been named among the substitutes for the third-successive match, and added: "I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am on the bench for three games so I can't say they keep the promise.

"I said many times before that, I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden we don't have any relationship.

"I don't know why but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn't want me in the club."

Salah is due to be absent from the team later this month in any case, with the Africa Cup of Nations getting under way on 21 December.

During his post-Leeds interview, Salah suggested the Brighton game might be his last for the club.

"This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much I will always do. I called my mum yesterday – you guys didn't know if I would start or not, but I knew.

"Yesterday I said to them, come to the Brighton game. I don’t know if I am going to play or not but I am going to enjoy it.

"In my head, I’m going to enjoy that game because I don’t know what is going to happen now.

"I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go the Africa Cup of Nations. I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there."

Liverpool: Alisson, Gomez, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Isak, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Ramsay, Ngumoha, Lucky.
Brighton: Verbruggen, Wieffer, van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu, Baleba, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Gruda, Gomez, Rutter.
Subs: Steele, Welbeck, Kostoulas, Milner, Boscagli, Mitoma, Ayari, De Cuyper,Veltman.

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