After seeing Mo Salah’s Egypt barely hold Mozambique to a draw, JURGEN KLOPP must be very pleased.
To tie the game at 2-2, the Liverpool star had to score a penalty in the 97th minute. The other team was ranked 111th in the world.
Egypt was thought to easily beat their opponents in the first game of Group B at the African Cup of Nations on Sunday.
Mo Salah’s Egypt narrowly avoided a shock defeat to Mozambique at AfconCredit: Getty
Jurgen Klopp has made no secret of his desire to have Salah back at Anfield
They got off to a fast start when Mostafa Mohamed scored with a nice finish after only two minutes. Salah set him up.
Egypt was strong, but they could not build on that.
And Mozambique was dreaming when Witi scored in the 55th minute to tie the game.
Soon after, Clesio Bauqe made it 2-1 for his country, making things even better.
And it looked like Egypt was going to lose badly because Mozambique had never won an Afcon game before.
But Salah saved some face for Egypt by scoring a penalty in the last few minutes of extra time.
He will be happy with the result because his team still has to play Ghana on Thursday, who was one of the pre-tournament favorites.
But Klopp, the manager of the Reds, is probably happy with the result.
Mozambique scored twice in as many minutes to take a 2-1 leadCredit: AP
Salah netted a 97th minute penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw
He wants Salah to come back to Anfield as soon as possible so that Liverpool can make an unlikely title run.
Egypt’s last game in the group stage is next Monday against Cape Verde. If Egypt were to leave early, Salah would be back for important games against Chelsea and Arsenal.
Before his star player left the Afcon, Klopp happily said he wanted Egypt to be kicked out as soon as possible.
Klopp told Salah, “I told you it would be a lie if I wished you luck.”
“I would be happy if they got kicked out in the group stage,” she said.
“But I do not think that is possible.” They will be able to win.
“So the message was “good luck and get well.” We will take care of it because we have to.
“I am sure that we can figure it out.”