Egypt wipe out Liverpool after Salah

In a coffee shop in a busy Cairo neighborhood, Liverpool games used to draw wall-to-wall crowds, but with Mohamed Salah off the pitch, his Egyptian fans now prefer playing cards or quietly doing prestige to watching the Reds.
Salah, one of the world’s biggest football stars, issued an unusually strong rebuke to manager Arne Slott after being benched for three consecutive games.
Adored by fans as the “Egyptian King”, Salah told reporters he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club he had called home for seven-and-a-half years.
The outburst divided Liverpool fans around the world – but in the Cairo cafe, people knew which side they were on and Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan went largely unnoticed.
“We are upset, of course,” said Adel Samy, 40, a longtime Salah fan who remembers the cafe overflowing with fans whenever he played.
On Tuesday afternoon, only a handful of customers sat at disorderly tables — some hunched over their phones, others shuffling cards, barely looking at the screen.
“He doesn’t deserve what’s happening,” Samy told AFP.
Islam Hosni, 36, who helps run the family cafe, said the street outside was filled with “people standing on their feet more than sitting in chairs” whenever Salah played.
“The cafe would be as full as an Ahly-Zamalek derby,” he told AFP, referring to Egypt’s fiercest football rivalry.
“Now because they know he’s not playing, no one is coming.”
At a corner table, a customer silently asks the staff to switch to another match.

‘time to go’
Since joining the Merseyside outfit in 2017, Salah has helped the club return to the top of European football, inspiring two Premiere League titles, a Champions League triumph and victories in the FA Cup, League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
With 250 goals in 420 appearances, he is Liverpool’s third all-time top scorer and for the Egyptians, the country’s greatest sporting export.
But this season, Salah has struggled for form, scoring five goals in 19 appearances as Liverpool have won just five of their last 16 matches in all competitions, dropping to eighth in the Champions League with 12 points.
At the cafe in Cairo’s Shoubra neighborhood, a sense of disappointment overwhelmed fans.
“Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and all the players are going through dips,” said Mohamed Abdelaziz, 40, but they are still playing.
Shady Hany, 18, shook his head. “How can a player like Mohamed Salah sit on the bench for so long?” he told AFP.
“It’s time for Salah to go.”
Slott said on Monday he had “no idea” whether Salah would play for Liverpool again.
Salah, who is set to join Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations after next weekend’s home game against Brighton, has around 18 months left on the £400,000-a-week deal he signed in April.
Saudi clubs have already targeted Salah in a bid to land him in the winter transfer window, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) source told AFP.
Saudi clubs Al-Ittihad, which had a £150m bid rejected two years ago, and Al-Hilal are believed to be monitoring developments, while Aramco-backed Al Qadsiah are also keen.
However, Egyptian sports pundit Hassan Khalafallah believes Salah’s motivations lie elsewhere.
“If he cared so much about money, he would have accepted earlier offers from Gulf clubs,” he told AFP.
“What matters to Salah is his career and his legacy.”
Salah’s journey from the Nile Delta village of Nagrig to global stardom at Anfield has inspired millions.
His rise is a classic underdog story — starting at El Mokawloon in Egypt, moving to Basel in Switzerland, enduring a difficult spell at Chelsea, finding form at AS Roma and eventually becoming one of the Premier League’s greatest players.
“Salah is an Egyptian star we are all proud of,” Hani said.
“Saudi Arabia is money, but Salah deserves more. He still has so much ahead of him.”