14/12/2025

theSun on Sunday DEC 14, 2025

SPORTS 13

Reign of Egyptian king nearing end Salah has lost his superpower and his incendiary Liverpool rant points to a painful outcome

“IF I speak, there will be fire,” said Mohamed Salah after what had been a rarity, a Premier League game when he had been benched. That was at West Ham in April 2024, not November 2025. When he did speak, in December 2025, it was incendiary. Six goals were shared in an astonishing second half at Elland Road, each overshad owed by a rare audience with Salah. The accusations that fol lowed were extraordinary. That Liverpool have thrown under the bus, that someone – who he left unnamed – wants to blame him, that the club has broken promises to him, that his relationship with Arne Slot is non-existent. Salah dropped hints about his future, talking about wav ing goodbye when he goes to the African Cup of Nations 2025 could be a permanent farewell. It is possible to view a situation that he deemed unac ceptable to him now beyond

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Szoboszlai has taken Salah’s spot on the right wing, despite not being a right winger. Szoboszlai has also claimed Salah’s mantle as Liverpool’s outstanding player this season. In a time when perhaps only Hugo Ekitike, Federico Chiesa and Ryan Gravenberch can also claim they have had good campaigns, Salah is not the only underachiever. But neither is he the only one who has been omitted. Just ask Florian Wirtz, the £116 mil lion (RM672m) man. If form was the sole crite rion for selection, Ekitike should have started more. If wonderful service over a long period was, then Andy Robertson would have been ever-present. Salah has enjoyed preferen tial treatment in the past, which he repaid in goals and assists. Slot, like Jurgen Klopp, rarely rested him because they knew how much goals mat tered to Salah. So his interest

repair for Liverpool. Put together, it is perhaps the most remarkable interview from a player of such a stature since Cristiano Ronaldo talked his way into Manchester United, cancelling his contract three years ago. Is that Salah’s endgame? It may not be the preferred one. The most generous interpre tation might be that it was the emotional response of a great whose pride has been bruised by his demotion; perhaps by the loss of his powers, too, with this season producing a mere five goals in 19 appearances. He may just want his old status and scoring habit at Liverpool. And yet, a few minutes ear lier and in a different context, Dominik Szoboszlai had said: “What’s said in the dressing room, stays in the dressing room.” Not in Salah’s case, clearly. If troubled times call for unity, these were the actions of an individual.

Slot had wanted Salah to sign the contract that he had penned in April. It was Slot, too, who conjured a season to compare with any of the best Salah produced for Klopp, yielding 29 goals and 18 assists in the Premier League alone last year. Yet by the time the German left, the cracks in his relation ship with the Egyptian had become apparent. Now there is a sequel. And if Slot, too, has lost something of his touch this season, if he has made some tactless comments in public, they have not been about Salah. The Egyptian’s verbal assault belongs in a different category altogether. Whether he is in Saudi Arabia, at the African Cup of Nations, on the Liverpool bench or banished from the squad for his disloyal comments, it feels ever clearer that the reign of Anfield’s Egyptian king is nearing its end. – The Independent

Liverpool’s. Until, suddenly, it didn’t. Salah is right to suggest he is not the only one to blame for Liverpool’s slide. But nor can his past be a guarantee of selec tion forever. Liverpool have been flawed in his absence but are still unbeaten in the last four PL and CL games for which he has been benched. They have lost seven of the last nine that he’s started. For Slot, it feels the final straw was the moment when Mauro Junior skipped past him all too easily to set up Guus Til’s goal that put PSV Eindhoven ahead at Anfield. Since then, Szoboszlai has been installed on the right. Liverpool have looked to defend in two banks of four. It is a tactical choice. Salah’s focus on himself ignores that. So the most damaging part may be the suggestion that he has no relationship with Slot.

Union sink Leipzig to climb in Bundesliga

High demand for WC tickets despite ‘extortionate’ prices FIFA received five million requests for World Cup 2026 tickets in the first 24 hours of the latest sales phase, football’s world governing body said yesterday, despite an outcry from fan groups this week about high prices for the tournament. Fans from more than 200 countries and territories applied via Fifa website for seats at the first 48-team World Cup, which will be staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026, Fifa said. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) on Thursday called on Fifa to immediately halt sales of national team allocations, accusing the governing body of imposing “extortionate” ticket prices that risk shutting ordinary fans out of the tournament. Ticket prices had jumped five-fold from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to FSE. Early demand is being driven by high-profile group-stage clashes, with Colombia vs Portugal in Miami on June 27 the most sought-after fixture so far in the Random Selection Draw period. Brazil vs Morocco (New York/New Jersey, June 13), Mexico vs South Korea (Guadalajara, June 18), Ecuador vs Germany (New York/New Jersey, June 25) and Scotland vs Brazil (Miami, June 24) round out the top five matches. After the three host nations, the top countries of residence for ticket requests were Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland, Germany, Australia, France and Panama. Fifa said the strong presence of South American and Central American fans showed how the tournament was capturing the imagination across the Americas, while Scotland’s position reflected excitement over their first World Cup in 28 years. The Random Selection Draw phase runs until Jan 13, with Fifa stressing the timing of an application within that window does not affect chances of success. Fans can choose specific matches, ticket categories and quantities, subject to household limits, and will be charged automatically if their applications are successful. – Reuters

RB Leipzig’s Conrad Harder (left) challenges FC Union Berlin’s Leopold Querfeld during yesterday’s Bundesliga match at Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Berlin. – REUTERSPIC

We didn’t play well in some phases. Union ruthlessly exploited that.” The hosts greeted Leipzig with a now customary 15-minute silent protest to open the match along with banners criticising their lack of tradition. Founded in 2009 and owned by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull, Leipzig’s ownership structure is viewed by some traditionalist fans as circumventing German football’s rules requiring members control of clubs. Leipzig and Union are the only clubs from the former East Germany in the top flight. –AFP

of a goal for Leipzig’s Tidiam Gomis in a wild seven-minute spell midway through the second half. Tim Skarke added another for the hosts in stoppage time. The victory took Union seven points clear of the relegation spots into eighth and means Bayern can extend their lead atop the table to 11 points with a win against Mainz. “This shouldn’t happen to us. It’s very bitter and disappointing. Unfortunately, the defeat is deserved,” Leipzig’s sporting director Marcel Schaefer told Sky Germany . “If we want to be a top team, we have to be fully focused in every game.

GOALS from Oliver Burke and Ilyas Ansah sealed a 3-1 home win for Union Berlin yesterday to deny RB Leipzig the chance to close the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Second-placed Leipzig arrived in Berlin hoping to move five points behind Bayern who host rock bottom Mainz tomorrow (12.30am Malaysian time). But the visitors were overrun by the underdog Berliners and are under threat from third-placed Borussia Dortmund who are just one point behind ahead of this morning’s match against Freiburg. Burke and Ansah scored either side