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Klopp believes Salah will “benefit” from AFCON heartbreak

Jurgen Klopp, Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
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Jurgen Klopp is sure that greater good will come from Mohamed Salah’s AFCON heartbreak with Egypt last weekend.

Jurgen Klopp is of the opinion that Mohamed Salah will “benefit” from the frustration of losing the Africa Cup of Nations final with Egypt. 

Last weekend, the Liverpool striker’s national side lost to Senegal at the Olembe Stadium on penalties. After a nerve-racking 120 minutes of play, his club teammate Sadio Mane bagged the winning goal for the Lions of Teranga.

Salah returned to the Reds training during the midweek ahead of their encounter against Leicester on Thursday. However, Klopp believes that the 29-year-old can bring out his agony for his betterment.

The German boss said of Salah: “He is very disappointed obviously, it was a massive thing. Losing a final is always really, really hard – I can sing that song.”

“But losing the way they lost it is especially hard and that’s what he felt as well. So, yes, he is happy to be back but he is disappointed as well, massively so.”

“We spoke obviously about the tournament and everything and we will see. He will deal with that, of course. And I hope that today it will already be better. But yesterday everybody could see he still has the final in his mind.”

Further, when asked about Salah’s mindset ahead of his AFCON experience, Klopp said: “Greater determination than Mo already had? I’m not sure that’s human.”

“Playing a tournament, not knowing where it will go, to then qualifying in the hardest possible manner for the final… then, against the favourite, [trying] to win the tournament, playing a game like Egypt played was an absolutely great final when you think about what they already invested before, both teams, and how hard they fought. Especially Egypt, how hard they fought to keep them quiet, these incredible talents of Senegal.”

“So, yes, that all helps in the long term. But I don’t think there’s a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind. He is very determined and using these kinds of things is a job for all of us.”

“When you lose a final, and we are obviously the best example for that, that’s really hard, really, really hard. But if you use it for the next big game or the next big tournament then it can be at least helpful. Even when it was still hard.”

“So he will benefit from it, we will benefit from it, but in which kind exactly, I don’t know.”

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