Earlier on Tuesday, Mohamed Salah shared a photo of himself training alone in Liverpool’s gym while the rest of the squad prepared to face Inter Milan in the Champions League. Not long after, Jamie Carragher picked up on that image and fired another public shot at a player he has already criticised heavily since last weekend’s interview.
Salah’s absence from the squad for Milan follows a turbulent spell. After being left out of the starting XI by Arne Slot for the third straight match in the 3-3 draw with Leeds, the 33-year-old Egypt international gave an interview in which he said he had been “thrown under the bus” at Anfield, alleged that “someone at the club” wants him out and claimed his relationship with Slot had broken down. Those remarks came from a player who has scored 250 goals in 420 Liverpool appearances, a record that anchors his status in any discussion of Liverpool’s top signings of all time.
Carragher’s response has been uncompromising. He has already described Salah as a “disgrace,” arguing that the forward’s comments were designed to “cause maximum damage and strengthen his own position.” When Salah later posted an image of himself training alone in Liverpool’s gym while the squad travelled, Carragher replied on social media: “I’m not sure I’ve wanted Liverpool to win a game more than tonight for a long time! Come you mighty reds.”
Slot has taken a different tone but an equally clear stance. The Liverpool head coach has admitted he has “no clue” whether Salah will play for the club again and has left him out of the group travelling to Italy. He expanded on that decision in an Amazon Prime interview, pointing to “a lot of things going on” in the days since Liverpool conceded a late equalizer against Leeds and stressing that the situation is “far from ideal” for the club, the team and Salah himself. “We reacted in the way we did not to take him here,” he said, adding that this choice reflects how seriously the staff viewed Salah’s comments.
The result is an unusually stark separation. Salah remains under contract, still a central figure in the club’s modern history, but he is currently training away from the travelling party, trying to stabilize a season in which Liverpool sits mid-table domestically and has already suffered a heavy 4–1 defeat at home to PSV in Europe. The facts require no speculation about mood or atmosphere. Slot has chosen to exclude his most decorated attacking player from a crucial Champions League league-phase fixture, and Salah has chosen to express his grievances in public. What remains is a decision about whether that relationship can be rebuilt in any meaningful way.
Inter away without Salah
On the other side of the tie, Inter look far more settled. Cristian Chivu replaced Simone Inzaghi as head coach in June 2025 and now works with much the same squad that reached last season’s Champions League final. They sit third in Serie A and have won four of their first five games in this year’s competition, so even with the memory of a 5–0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Munich, Liverpool know they are facing one of the hardest-organized teams in the tournament.
Liverpool travel to San Siro without the player who usually shapes how opponents set up on that flank. Slot has to replace not only Salah’s finishing but the attention he draws, because most back fours naturally slide towards him and leave room for others. With Inter likely to stay in Chivu’s well-drilled 3-5-2, Liverpool must find different ways to threaten without the forward who has long been their reference point in Europe.
The domestic schedule keeps pressing in. After Milan, Liverpool face Brighton on Sunday in the Premier League, a match that is currently scheduled to be Salah’s final club appearance before he joins Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations. Slot has declined to guarantee that Salah will feature against Brighton, repeating that his “full focus” is on Inter and that the last two days have already been “a lot” for everyone involved. Until the consequences of the interview and the decision to leave Salah out are fully addressed, even apparently routine fixtures carry an extra layer of uncertainty.
Beyond this week lies the question of what happens in the January window. Reporting has already linked Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal with a potential move for Salah if Liverpool decide to sanction a sale. A transfer there would place him in a competition that has already produced high-profile meetings between Real Madrid and Al-Hilal at recent global tournaments, but it would also allow Liverpool to secure a substantial fee rather than risk a prolonged stand-off that diminishes a defining player’s final chapter at Anfield.
For the moment, everything is more immediate. Liverpool are trying to navigate a Champions League league phase that has already delivered a damaging home loss, they are doing so without the forward who has led them through so many European nights, and their most prominent former defender is publicly challenging that forward’s choices. Whether the story ends in reconciliation, a carefully managed exit or something more abrupt, this Inter away trip feels less like an isolated controversy and more like the point at which Liverpool are forced to decide how they want the Salah era, and its legacy, to be defined.
