Close to tears, Mohamed Salah forced off with hamstring injury during Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Ghana at AFCON, leaving Liverpool fans bemoaning ‘unbelievably bad luck’ ahead of Premier League title run-in

Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of top scorer Mo Salah after the winger was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury during Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations clash with Ghana.

The 31-year-old fought back tears as he was substituted on the stroke of half-time, and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp must now desperately hope the injury is not serious, with his team just two points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top of the Premier League table.

Salah grabbed the back of his left leg following a bursting run and lay on his back receiving treatment.

He limped to the touchline and Ghana fans cheered as the most high-profile player at the tournament was replaced.

He sat watching the second half with the Egypt substitutes as his side rescued a 2-2 draw after twice trailing to goals from West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus.

Liverpool were already braced for Salah’s absence until their February 17 fixture at Brentford, if Egypt were to make it all the way to the AFCON final in Abidjan.

But the fear now will be that he misses a far longer spell recovering from injury.

The Reds are already without a host of players. Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara, Kostas Tsimikas, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Doak and Dominik Szoboszlai are injured. Wataru Endo is at the Asian Cup with Japan.

Egypt needed Salah’s stoppage-time penalty to rescue a point in their opening group game at AFCON against Mozambique.

Liverpool resume their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth on Sunday, before contesting the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham.

Reds supporters were worried by the sight of their best player stricken ahead of a gruelling fixture schedule on four fronts.

‘If this Salah injury is big, then we’re in trouble,’ wrote one fan on X, formerly Twitter.  Another commented: ‘Salah hamstring, season is over.’

A third said: ‘Salah injured. We have unbelievably bad luck.’

Egypt coach Rui Vitoria said he had no concrete update on the extent of Salah’s injury after the game, with the winger set for further assessment.

He said: ‘We don’t know yet what the problem is. I hope it’s not a big problem.

‘It was difficult timing for us because in the second-half we could only make two substitutions. I think it’s not dangerous but let’s see.’

After an opening game draw, Egypt sit second in Group A ahead of their final fixture against group leaders Cape Verde, who play Mozambique on Friday. – Daily Mail Online