Liverpool Head Coach, Jürgen Klopp has said that his prayer is for Egypt and Japan to fail to progress beyond the group stages of the AFCON 2023 and Asian Cup respectively, platinumnewsng.com is reporting.
The talisman Mohamed Salah is currently with Egypt for the Africa’s biennial tournament in Ivory Coast which starts on January 13. Also, Wataru Endo will lead Japanese side in their adventure at the Asian Cup in Qatar.
Sadly for the German tactician, if Egypt and Japan tremendously impress at the respective tournaments, that could mean Salah and Endo will not be back until the second week in February.
Commenting on the absence of the two players, Klopp confessed that he bid them goodbyes earlier this week without wishing them too much success on their national duties.
“I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal on Sunday.
“From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it.
“So it was ‘Good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way,” Klopp complained.
With Dominik Szoboszlai out injured, Klopp will be without a suitable replacement for Salah, who has scored 18 goals in all competitions and plays on the right side of his attack this season. However, he is still confident that Liverpool can fill the hole left by Salah.
“I think we played against West Ham (in last month’s League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there. We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible — we just have to use the boys with their skills.
“Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn’t have to do it often but we always found a way. But we play Arsenal and you can lose to Arsenal with Mo Salah so it’s possible to lose to them without him,” He berated.