Arne Slot breaks silence on Mohamed Salah fall-out after Liverpool star misses Inter Milan win
The Egyptian winger did not travel with the Liverpool team for their 1-0 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro in the Champions League last night,
Arne Slot believes Mohamed Salah should be the one to answer questions about who ought to apologise first following their explosive fall out.
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The Egyptian winger did not travel with the Liverpool team for their 1-0 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro in the Champions League last night, after comments he made following Saturday's draw with Leeds about the Reds head coach.
When asked whether Salah would ever play for his team again, Slot initially suggested the player should be the first to apologise, before later softening his stance.
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Speaking directly after the full time whistle in Italy, the Dutch coach said: "First you have to ask if the player feels he made a mistake.
“I’m going to talk to him. But then you have to ask should the initiative come from me?”
But in the later press conference, Slot rowed back slightly on these comments, saying: "I didn’t say who should make the first step.
"Tonight it should be all about the players that are here. In the rich history Liverpool has had they have had many of these evenings."
The row between the pair began after Salah suggested he has no relationship with Slot after being benched for three games, adding that the club had "thrown him under the bus".
Their fall-out dominated the entirety of the pre-game discussions before Liverpool's crucial Champions League tie against last year's finalists.
Dominik Szoboszlai’s 88th-minute penalty- which Slot appeared to suggest was soft – settled matters in a game which Liverpool looked much more solid.
“All I could ask for, I think the fourth game in 10 days, that is not what you see a lot with only 13 outfield players available with Premier League or Champions League experience,” said Slot.
“After the blow we had conceding the 3-3 in Leeds then in this stadium against such a strong Inter team, we hardly gave away a chance.
“Great mentality second half, we got better and better, we were close to scoring with Conor (Bradley) crossing for Hugo (Ekitike) then we get a penalty that if that was a penalty we could have got 10 this season.
“In the Premier League I don’t think it would have been given.”