Mohamed Salah has been dramatically excluded from Liverpool’s travelling squad for Tuesday’s Champions League encounter against Inter Milan at the San Siro, with the decision made jointly by the club’s board and manager Arne Slot following the Egyptian forward’s explosive public criticism of his treatment at Anfield. The 33-year-old’s absence from the 19-player squad represents a significant escalation in tensions between one of the club’s greatest ever players and the current regime, coming just days after Salah accused Liverpool of “throwing him under the bus” in a stunning post-match interview.
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The Interview That Changed Everything
The controversy erupted following Liverpool’s dramatic 3-3 draw against Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday, a result that represented yet another setback in the Reds’ disastrous Premier League title defense. Mo Salah, who had been named among the substitutes for the third consecutive match and remained an unused substitute throughout the 90 minutes, delivered a scathing assessment of his situation in a post-match interview that sent shockwaves through English football.
“Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That’s how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame,” Salah stated, his frustration evident in every word.
The Egyptian international, who has been Liverpool’s talisman for eight seasons, went further in his criticism by revealing the breakdown of his relationship with Slot: “I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club.”
The comments represented an unprecedented public airing of grievances from a player who has historically maintained professionalism and discretion in his dealings with the media. For Mo Salah to speak so candidly about feeling scapegoated and questioning whether certain individuals within Liverpool wanted him at the club suggested the situation had deteriorated far beyond normal player-manager disagreements about team selection.
Board and Slot Unite on Omission Decision
According to reports from journalist Fabrice Hawkins, the decision to exclude Mo Salah from the travelling squad for the Inter Milan fixture was made collaboratively by Liverpool’s board and Arne Slot. The joint nature of the decision underscores the seriousness with which the club views Salah’s public comments and the need to present a united front in response to his criticism.
Despite training with his teammates at the AXA Training Centre in Merseyside on Monday morning—appearing in good spirits during the open portion of the session—Liverpool had already determined that Salah would not be boarding the plane to Italy later that afternoon. His name was notably absent from the 19-player squad list released as the team departed for Milan, confirming that one of Liverpool’s most decorated players would be watching from England as his teammates faced Inter at the San Siro.
The decision to leave Mo Salah behind carries significant implications beyond the immediate Champions League fixture. It represents Liverpool’s assertion that no player, regardless of their status or historical contributions, is above the collective interests of the club. Slot, who has been under pressure following Liverpool’s disappointing start to their title defense, faced a critical test of his authority—allowing Salah’s comments to go unanswered would have risked undermining his position and creating a fractured dressing room environment.
Liverpool’s Disappointing Campaign
The backdrop to this controversy is Liverpool’s stunning fall from grace in the Premier League. The Reds, who won the title last season with one of the most dominant campaigns in English football history, currently sit in eighth place in the table having lost six of their opening 15 matches. To contextualize the magnitude of their decline, Liverpool lost just four games during their entire 2024-25 title-winning campaign.
Mo Salah was an ever-present figure in that record-equalling 20th English top-flight title triumph, winning the Golden Boot after scoring 29 goals in 38 games while also supplying 18 assists. His contributions were fundamental to Liverpool’s success, making his current marginalization all the more striking. However, Salah’s form had begun to drop off toward the end of last season, when he scored just twice and assisted once in the final nine league games—a concerning trend that coincided with his contract extension negotiations.
The decline in output has continued this season, with Mo Salah managing just four goals and two assists in 13 league games before his benching. Overall, he has scored five goals in 18 appearances across the Premier League and Champions League—numbers that fall well short of the elite standards he set throughout his Liverpool career. Whether this statistical drop-off justified his demotion to the bench or whether other factors were at play remains a subject of intense debate among supporters and pundits.
The Benching Pattern
Mo Salah’s exclusion from Liverpool’s starting lineup has followed a clear pattern over recent matches. He was first dropped to the bench for the away fixture against West Ham United, ending a remarkable run of 53 consecutive Premier League starts. This decision alone represented a seismic shift in Liverpool’s team selection, given Salah’s status as one of the club’s most reliable and productive players over nearly eight years.
The Egyptian remained among the substitutes for Liverpool’s home draw with Sunderland, where he did make a brief appearance off the bench. However, Slot chose not to introduce him in the subsequent matches against West Ham and Leeds, leaving Salah as an entirely unused substitute twice in succession. For a player of Salah’s caliber and ego, watching matches from the sideline while his team struggled to secure positive results proved increasingly intolerable.
Manager Arne Slot had previously praised Mo Salah’s reaction to being initially dropped, attempting to frame the situation positively in the media. “It’s a fair assumption [that he wasn’t happy],” Slot acknowledged. “He has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and will be for us in the future. So yeah, of course a player isn’t happy not playing. He wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy that he wasn’t starting, I can tell you. And that’s normal. But the way he behaved was as you would expect from the professional he is.”
Those comments now read as somewhat ironic given Salah’s subsequent public outburst, suggesting either that his frustration had been simmering beneath a professional facade or that additional developments occurred to push him toward making his feelings public.
Reactions From Liverpool Figures
The controversy has prompted significant commentary from current and former Liverpool figures. Captain Virgil van Dijk, whose own form has faced criticism this season, addressed the Salah situation following the Sunderland match, emphasizing that no player has “unlimited credit” at the club regardless of past achievements.
“He is still a fantastic player and we still have to remember there is a reason why he has been so successful at the club and we have to respect that,” Van Dijk stated diplomatically, attempting to balance acknowledgment of Salah’s contributions with support for Slot’s authority to make selection decisions based on current performance and tactical considerations.
Former England striker Wayne Rooney, now working as a BBC Sport pundit, delivered a harsher assessment of Mo Salah’s public comments. Rooney suggested that Salah is “destroying his legacy” at Liverpool through his handling of the situation and argued that Slot should not involve the player against either Inter or in the upcoming home fixture against Brighton before Salah joins Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Transfer Speculation Resurfaces
Mo Salah’s explosive comments and subsequent exclusion from the Inter Milan squad have inevitably reignited speculation about his future at Anfield. The Egyptian admitted during the summer that a move to the Saudi Pro League could have materialized if his contract negotiations with Liverpool had failed to reach an agreement. He ultimately signed a two-year extension in April, just before receiving his second Premier League Player of the Season award, seemingly securing his future at the club through 2027.
However, the current crisis has brought transfer rumors back to the forefront. Al Hilal, currently managed by Italian coach Simeone Inzaghi, are long-term admirers of Salah, who has scored 250 goals in 420 Liverpool appearances. The Saudi Pro League club has the financial resources to offer astronomical wages that would dwarf his current Liverpool salary, and Salah’s comments suggesting that certain people within the club don’t want him there could open the door to a January exit.
Despite the escalating tensions, reports indicate that Liverpool “remain fully committed to Salah and his contract, which runs through until 2027, while maintaining that the current situation is temporary and can still be turned around.” The club is reportedly “not currently planning for the forward’s exit, nor making plans to use the January transfer window for possible replacements.” Whether this stance holds if the relationship deteriorates further remains to be seen.
Wider Implications for Liverpool
The Mo Salah controversy comes at a particularly inopportune time for Liverpool, who face crucial fixtures across multiple competitions. They currently sit ninth in the Premier League standings, a staggering 10 points behind league leaders Arsenal. Manchester City, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Chelsea are among the teams currently ahead of Liverpool in the table—a situation that would have been unthinkable at the start of the season.
In the Champions League, Liverpool suffered a surprising 4-1 reversal at the hands of PSV in their last European outing, adding pressure on the Inter Milan fixture to deliver a positive response. The absence of their most experienced attacking player—even one experiencing a dip in form—removes an important option from Slot’s tactical arsenal and risks creating additional distractions at a time when unity should be the priority.
The 19-player squad that traveled to Milan includes strikers Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, and Rio Ngumoha, but none possess the big-game experience and track record that Mo Salah brings to crucial Champions League encounters. Liverpool will also be without injured players including Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, Wataru Endo, Cody Gakpo, and Federico Chiesa, further limiting Slot’s options.
The Path Forward
As Liverpool prepare to face Inter Milan without Mo Salah, multiple questions loom large over Anfield. Can the relationship between Salah and Slot be repaired, or has the public nature of their dispute created an irreparable breach? Will Salah issue a public apology, as some reports suggest the club’s board expects? Can Liverpool arrest their alarming slide down the Premier League table without their historically most productive player in the starting lineup?
The answers to these questions will shape not only the remainder of Liverpool’s season but potentially the legacy of one of the club’s greatest ever players. Mo Salah’s contributions to Liverpool’s recent success are undeniable—two Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, and countless individual accolades accumulated over eight trophy-laden years. However, his handling of this current crisis and the manner in which the situation resolves will inevitably color how his entire Anfield career is remembered.
For now, the 33-year-old forward remains in England while his teammates battle Inter Milan at the San Siro, a dramatic symbol of how quickly circumstances can change in elite football and how even the greatest players must navigate the complex dynamics of club politics, managerial authority, and performance expectations.
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FAQs
Why has Mo Salah been excluded from Liverpool’s squad for the Inter Milan match?
Mo Salah has been left out following his public criticism of Liverpool and manager Arne Slot after being benched for three consecutive matches. The decision was made jointly by the club’s board and Slot.
What did Mo Salah say in his controversial interview?
Salah stated he felt Liverpool had “thrown him under the bus,” claimed he doesn’t know why he’s been benched, said his relationship with Slot has broken down, and suggested “someone doesn’t want me in the club.”
How has Mo Salah’s form been this season?
Salah has scored just five goals in 18 appearances across the Premier League and Champions League this season, with four goals and two assists in 13 league games—significantly below his usual standards.
Will Mo Salah leave Liverpool in January?
Despite the controversy, reports indicate Liverpool remain committed to Salah’s contract through 2027 and are not currently planning for his exit or seeking replacements in the January transfer window.
How long has Mo Salah been at Liverpool?
Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017 and has been at the club for eight years, scoring 250 goals in 420 appearances and winning two Premier League titles and the Champions League.
