Salah has come off the bench in Liverpool’s last two games (Picture: Getty)
Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah is ready to start for Liverpool in their FA Cup showdown against Manchester United on Sunday.
Salah has not started a match for his club since the 4-2 win over Newcastle United on New Year’s Day having suffered a hamstring injury early in Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign in January.
The 32-year-old made a brief return off the bench in the win over Brentford last month – scoring and providing an assist – but would miss Liverpool’s next four games with the club’s medical staff taking every precaution over his return.
Salah came off the bench in last Thursday’s thrashing of Sparta Prague, playing the final 29 minutes in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
Liverpool host Sparta in the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday night with their place in the next round already secured after a 5-1 win away from home last week.
The Reds then head to Old Trafford with a place in the final four of the FA Cup up for grabs with Salah ready to be called upon.
‘It’s possible it would have been possible for him to play longer in the last game [against City], but it was just the game, how it was,’ Klopp told a press conference on Wednesday.
Salah’s last start for his club came on New Year’s Day (Picture: Getty)
‘It’s important that we build up Mo, obviously super-important, but in this game changing at half-time was not necessary or possible [because] we have to deal with changes carefully.
‘So, yeah, he is ready. He is top fit, everything is good now and we don’t have to deal with these kind of things anymore. I’m not sure if he is ready for 90 minutes and I’m not sure we should do 90 minutes, but he’s ready to start so that’s how it is.
‘He would have been ready to start in the last game but then you don’t know for how long it makes sense and that’s always the problem when players come back.
Salah has been back in training for a number of weeks (Picture: Getty)
‘I can’t remember a game where I thought, ‘Mo Salah cannot play, no problem.’ It just never happened, so it’s not cool to not have him but there was a game last Sunday and there are 10 more Premier League games and hopefully a lot more cup and European games. They are all as important and Mo was completely fine with that.
‘Would he have loved to play a little bit longer? Probably, yes, but I cannot before the game decide when we do what and these kind of things. But he’s ready to start.
‘Should that then be 90 minutes on the pitch? That depends on how it looks in that moment but we all know Mo usually can play game after game after game after game.
‘Now he was out for a surprisingly long time, but now he is back and we have to make sure that we can really count on him consistently again.’
While Klopp may be able to call upon Salah again, Liverpool remain without Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Diogo Jota, Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara.
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