Arne Slot delivers Mohamed Salah injury update after Liverpool star requested substitution in Galatasaray thrashing

Salah shines in Liverpool win

Salah was on target with his 50th Champions League goal as Liverpool beat Galatasaray 4-0 on Wednesday in the Champions League. Liverpool's Egyptian King curled home a trademark finish to complete the scoring and set up a quarter-final tie with defending champions Paris Saint-Germain. However, Salah didn't finish the game as he asked to be replaced shortly after his goal after appearing to pick up a knock.

Slot offers Salah injury update

Slot spoke about Salah after the win and told reporters: "He was asking for a substitution, not because he felt he'd scored enough, but he felt something. So let's see where he is for the weekend and afterwards.”

The Liverpool boss also praised Salah for his goal, adding: "It says a lot about him that after missing a penalty just before half-time [to score that goal]. That can sometimes be hard for an individual or for a team, so compliment to the team for how we came out in the second half because we've had a lot of setbacks this season, we've had a lot of first or second halves where we've created chance after chance after chance without doing justice to how we've performed, so not scoring.

"Then, Mo and the team came out in the second half the way they did. He assisted first to Hugo, a great assist, and then scored a trademark goal, which he scored many of in this stadium and for this club, coming inside and finding the top corner. That tells you about the mental strength of him, but definitely also of the team because adversity is something we can talk about when it comes to this season."

New role for Salah?

Slot was also asked about his decision to use Salah in more of an "infield" role against Galatasaray and shared his thoughts: "The thinking was not only about Mo, the thinking is about a lot of things. You always try to prepare your team in a way that can help them during the game. But I think tonight is not about tactics, it's mainly about the work they've put in, the support they got from the fans. And then, of course, tactics can help. But this work-rate, this intensity, this combination of play is always more important than tactics. But unfortunately we've played this tactic before – Frankfurt away, Inter Milan away and some other games – but usually this season then we've got a player injured, we couldn't do it again because then we miss out on a certain type in a certain position.

"So, we've used this tactic before but unfortunately even tonight Joe Gomez couldn't play, not really helpful, of course, when I had to take Jeremie Frimpong off but Curtis [Jones] again did a great job. This has been our season that every time when we think we find the system or we think we find the right style of play then someone gets injured and then we don't have the similar fit, so we have to adapt and change again. But that's part of being a manager, so you can't complain about that."

What comes next?

Liverpool go on to play PSG in the quarter-finals in April, with the winners of that tie set to face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. Before that, Liverpool face Brighton in the Premier League and Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.