Salah injury update after Hamza Choudhury dangerous tackle
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left upset with Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury after the England Under-21 international’s late tackle left Mohamed Salah with an ankle injury on Saturday.
Salah’s ankle was trapped underneath Choudhury’s body when the Foxes midfielder lunged for the ball in the last minute of the match, forcing the Egypt international to hobble off the pitch before the final whistle.
The 27-year-old will undergo scans on Sunday to determine the severity of Salah’s injury, following a ‘dangerous as hell’ tackle that left Klopp seething on the full-time whistle.
“It’s just a challenge which I really don’t understand,” Klopp said, quoted by ESPN. “How he can do it, because the ball is far away. The player is full sprint to bring him down without the ball around, for me there is only one colour card.
“I see in your eyes that I am probably the only one who sees it like this. It is dangerous as hell. I don’t want to cause the boy any problems, but he has to calm down. He has to calm down.”
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Klopp’s opposite number at Anfield, former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, quickly defended Choudhury after the match, adding that there wasn’t any malice involved in the last-minute tackle.
“I don’t think it was an overly bad challenge,” Rodgers said, quoted by The Metro. “Mo Salah is coming inside at speed and there’s a clash of course. With the emotion of the game at that time, it might seem worse than it was.
“[Choudhury] was just trying to get back into position. Mo cut across him and there’s a collision. He’s an honest boy. He makes challenges, he’s aggressive but I don’t think there was anything malicious in it at all.”
Liverpool ultimately secured its 17th win in a row on Saturday thanks to a late penalty from James Milner, putting the Reds back in front after James Maddison canceled out Sadio Mané’s opener.
Klopp’s side is now sitting eight points clear of Manchester City, who has a game in hand, and 10 points ahead of third-placed Leicester.
