Are Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane playing for Liverpool? When Reds stars return to play after AFCON final

Kyle Bonn

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Are Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane playing for Liverpool? When Reds stars return to play after AFCON final image

Sadio Mane returns to England an Africa Cup of Nations champion, while Mo Salah has heartbreak on his mind.

The two Liverpool teammates reached the AFCON 2022 finals, but on opposite sides, meaning only one could come out on top. Mane's Senegal topped Salah's Egypt in a penalty shootout, leaving both with very different tastes in their mouthes.

For Liverpool fans, though, the most important part was their healthy return, and that has been accomplished. The two have each missed three Premier League matches, two EFL Cup games, and an FA Cup match for AFCON duty, although that tally was minimized somewhat thanks to the added January international break.

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With the tournament now over, Mane and Salah are set to return for Liverpool. However, their availabilities are not necessarily concurrent.

With a Premier League match against Leicester City set for Thursday, only one of the two is in contention for a place in the team.

Is Mo Salah back and available for Liverpool?

Mohamed Salah was on the losing end of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations final, a disappointing finish to the tournament. Overall, Egypt was a tough out, but also a tough watch, scoring just four goals across the entire tournament as negative tactics put the goalscoring burden almost entirely on Salah's shoulders.

After the finals disappointment, Salah has returned to the Liverpool squad, and manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed that not only is he in contention for a place in the squad to face Leicester City on Thursday, he is also mentally recovering despite the crushing loss.

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"He is happy to be back but he is disappointed as well, massively so," Klopp said of Salah in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Leicester City match. "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.”

Klopp said he believes Salah will use the motivation from the AFCON defeat to push him forward the rest of the club season.

"I don’t think there’s a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind," Klopp said. "He is very determined and using these kind 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.”

Is Sadio Mane back and available for Liverpool?

While Salah was able to return from his finals defeat straight away, Sadio Mane's situation is somewhat different.

Thanks to the victory, Mane is returning later than Salah due to the celebrations. 

Mane, along with Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and the rest of the Senegal squad, returned to Dakar with the trophy in tow for a parade and further celebrations.

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As a result, Klopp confirmed that Mane had not yet returned to Liverpool as of Wednesday's pre-match press conference, thus ruling him out of contention for the Leicester City match.

"Sadio is not back yet," Klopp said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Thursday's Leicester City match. "Our agreement with them, we said such a big thing...obviously everybody could see, the celebrations for Senegal...we didn't want to stress anybody there and then ask for bringing only Sadio back. He should just enjoy it, enjoy themselves, and then come back as early as possible."

Klopp said he believed Mane would return to Liverpool Wednesday night, meaning he would be likely in contention for Sunday's league match against Burnley. If that is too soon, or if Liverpool decides to rest Mane for that match after a grueling AFCON journey, he could be ready for the midweek Champions League game against Inter on Wednesday in Italy.

Kyle Bonn

Kyle Bonn Photo

Kyle Bonn, is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham. Kyle enjoys playing racquetball and video games when not watching or covering sports.