Mohamed Salah was the first player substituted during Liverpool’s 1-0 win away to RB Leipzig, with Arne Slot admitting he had to be careful with the winger.
Slot raised eyebrows around the Red Bull Arena when he opted to withdraw Salah after just over an hour, with Liverpool leading Leipzig 1-0.
It came with the Egyptian having clocked more minutes than any other Liverpool player before kickoff, suggesting that the head coach was simply managing his No. 11’s minutes.
However, it was still an unpopular decision with Salah himself, who was clearly frustrated with being called to leave the action so early.
Speaking to reporters after Liverpool’s latest win in the Champions League, Slot explained why he substituted Salah as he looks to the “tough months coming up.”
“It’s a tough fixture list that we have,” he said.
“I said before the game about Curtis Jones, that he hasn’t played 90 minutes yet, he only played two times 75-80 minutes. He’s not used to playing two games so fast in a row.
“We have some injuries now, so I have to take good care of the players who have played a lot.
“Mo is one of them and Sunday is a big game coming up again.
“I need to use as many players as I can use for these tough weeks and months – because it’s not only weeks, there’s tough months coming up – so they are all prepared to play.”
The importance of maintaining Salah’s fitness is only magnified by the ongoing absence of Federico Chiesa – his de facto backup – and a new injury to Diogo Jota.
Luis Diaz replaced him in Leipzig and Dominik Szoboszlai pushed into attack, underlined the balancing act Slot needs to execute with two senior attackers already sidelined.
Salah is guaranteed to start when Liverpool head to Arsenal on Sunday, and should do so up against a left-back he has terrorised in the past, with Oleksandr Zinchenko expected to fill in after injury to Riccardo Calafiori.
Keeping the Egypt international fully fit is paramount, then, with the Reds able to gain a big advantage in they win at the Emirates.
RB Leipzig 0-1 Liverpool
