Jurgen Klopp reacts to ‘shock’ Mohamed Salah injury

Jurgen Klopp said it was a shock to see Mohamed Salah go off injured while playing for Egypt at the African Cup of Nations but Liverpool are waiting for the results of a scan to know the extent of his hamstring problem.

Liverpool’s top scorer has only missed 10 Premier League games in six-and-a-half seasons on Merseyside, and just three due to injury, and Klopp hopes the winger does not face a rare spell on the sidelines.

He said: “I spoke with him last night. They are doing further assessments and then we will know more. In the moment it was a shock. He felt it and we all know how rarely Mo needs to go off so there was definitely something. I don’t have any more information right now.

“We will see. It depends on what the diagnosis is. They do will an ultrasound and an MRI and then we will know what it is and what Egypt plans. It’s too early.”

Salah was hurt in the first half of the 2-2 draw with Ghana on Thursday but it means there is also the possibility that Egypt, who have taken a solitary point from their first two games, will be eliminated in the group stage.

If the scan shows no damage, he could be back on Merseyside sooner than expected and potentially available for the clash with Chelsea on 31 January and Arsenal four days later.

Klopp’s league leaders are likely to face Bournemouth first on Sunday without the injured trio of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai.

But Klopp is confident they will all return soon, with a chance some could feature in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Fulham on Wednesday.

Alexander-Arnold has been at a fashion show in Milan and Klopp smiled: “He can walk... on the catwalk/ They’re all positive but not ready. They’re all going in the right direction and getting closer and closer and closer and some of them might be in team training next week but for the Bournemouth game I don’t expect anyone back.

“I hope that nobody will be out until then. After Bournemouth, maybe for Fulham we will see how the boys do, but they are all close. Trent close, Dom close, Robbo close. They are all going in the right direction but for this weekend’s game, no.”