There were no tears from Mohamed Salah when the final whistle went in Tangier as Egypt fell at the semi-final hurdle. Just a little smile, but one no doubt hiding immense disappointment.
Yet again, his Egypt side had failed at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and, yet again, they had fallen against Senegal and Sadio Mane – Salah’s ex-Liverpool team-mate.
Across the five games Salah started in Morocco, the 33-year-old scored four goals as he carried his nation to the semi-finals.
After their quarter-final win against the Ivory Coast, Salah described it as the “best camp” he’d ever had.
“We’re all close, we love each other, we hang out together, the humour is unbelievable, and we work hard both on and off the pitch,” said Salah.
Salah is expected to return to Merseyside, where uncertainty still remains over his future, following Saturday’s third-place play-off against Nigeria in Casablanca.
Salah last started a game for Liverpool on 26 November in the Champions League against PSV, which Arne Slot’s side lost 4-1.
Since then, Liverpool are 11 games unbeaten (W6, D5), though the performances have been questionable – with Slot admitting last week he did not “completely disagree” with suggestions the Reds’ football has been “dull and boring” during that period.
It is also over a month since Salah gave an explosive mixed zone interview at Leeds, where he accused Liverpool of “throwing him under the bus” after he was benched for three games in a row, and claimed his relationship with Slot had broken down.
He was subsequently left out for Liverpool’s trip to Inter Milan but was not fined and returned to the squad against Brighton a few days later, coming off the bench in the first half when Joe Gomez was injured.
Salah got an assist in the second half and was given a warm reception by the Anfield crowd, before staying to applaud all four sides of the ground after full-time as they serenaded their “Egyptian King” with his familiar song. That was his last appearance before joining up with his national team.
Slot insisted after that there was “no issue to resolve”, with Curtis Jones also revealing Salah had apologised to his team-mates for the fallout from his interview.
In his absence Liverpool have not lost a game, but they have lost striker Alexander Isak to a lower leg injury until at least March, while defender Conor Bradley has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.