‘A crisis involving Salah is a crisis for the nation’: Egypt defend their ‘golden child’

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It was therefore entirely predictable that the forward’s comments after Liverpool’s 3-3 draw at Leeds – where he was relegated to the bench for a third consecutive game – he would become the singular, all-consuming topic across his homeland’s sports media.“Egyptian media was always going to stand by Salah,” says the Egyptian journalist and co-founder of the sports website KingFut, Adam Moustafa. He’s the golden child of Egypt.”The true measure of Salah’s cultural weight became clear in the breadth of national conversation, as talk around his interview spilled beyond the confines of football punditry.

Television pundits theorised that Michael Edwards, the chief executive of football at Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, and the club’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, would have been unhappy with Salah’s public contract pleas last season and pondered whether they were who the Egyptian was referring to when he said “someone doesn’t want me at the club”.Mohamed Salah is being shown sympathy from his homeland’s culture of revering its stars over managers or clubs. Carragher may think Salah was a Chelsea reject but Liverpool did not save Salah’s career.

Likewise, Jürgen Klopp would not have put up with him if he ‘threw his right-back’ under the bus for seven seasons.”A myriad of former Egypt players came to Salah’s defence alongside Mido, including Hazem Emam and Mohamed Aboutrika, the latter widely regarded as one of Africa’s greatest players. Salah is widely agreed to be the catalyst for Egypt’s return to prominence, guiding them to two Afcon finals and qualifying for two World Cups, an achievement that eluded the previous golden generation.“Even if I were to assume [Carragher’s] point was Salah needs a team to win titles,” says Fahmy, “his proof – what he was using to back up said point – was factually incorrect.