Liverpool edged closer to securing automatic Champions League qualification with a gritty win in Milan, but off-field issues continue to overshadow a pivotal point in the season.<\/p>\n
Salah\u2019s cryptic post deepens existing tensions
\nA blurred Arne Slot can be seen behind Salah, who sits in focus at the front.<\/p>\n
Mo Salah has stirred further uncertainty around his situation by sharing another enigmatic Instagram story\u2014an image of himself on a bench staring across an empty field, again without any caption or context.<\/p>\n
The Egyptian captain made no reference to Liverpool\u2019s 1-0 triumph over Inter Milan and offered no public praise for his team-mates after their superb Champions League display.<\/p>\n
This follows a similarly silent update from the AXA Training Centre gym on the day of the match in Italy\u2014a moment that drew a pointed response from Jamie Carragher, who admitted he was \u201ca bit frustrated\u201d that Salah \u201cdoesn\u2019t mention Liverpool tonight playing in a game,\u201d after already voicing his feelings on social media.<\/p>\n
Andy Robertson provided a more diplomatic view, calling it \u201ca tough situation obviously\u201d but reminding fans that Salah remains \u201cone of the greatest players to ever play at this club,\u201d underlining both the immense respect for the forward and the complexity of the current standoff.<\/p>\n
Salah was suspended from team activities after comments the club deemed unacceptable. While his frustration over reduced minutes is understandable, the consequences have been clear.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Salah, Slot, and Liverpool\u2019s next steps<\/p>\n
Arne Slot speaking with Mo Salah on the touchline.<\/p>\n
Slot entered the Milan tie under intense scrutiny, with discussion still dominated by the fallout from the 3-3 draw at Leeds and Salah\u2019s post-match remarks.<\/p>\n
Rather than splintering, the squad seemed to rally.<\/p>\n
Liverpool snapped Inter\u2019s 18-game Champions League home run with Dominik Szoboszlai\u2019s late penalty\u2014the club\u2019s latest ever away winning goal in the competition.<\/p>\n
They are now unbeaten in four straight matches without Salah in the starting lineup, with two wins and two clean sheets\u2014a stark contrast to losing six of the previous seven when he played.<\/p>\n
These stats don\u2019t signal the end for Salah, but they show why Slot now faces one of the biggest selection decisions of his tenure.<\/p>\n
Another omission before the forward leaves for AFCON could quicken a possible departure, especially given the growing speculation about his relationship with Slot.<\/p>\n
The unfortunate truth is that a scenario that should unite the fanbase is instead pushing supporters toward an unnecessary divide between manager and star player.<\/p>\n
Milan showed what the team is capable of when united, and the hope now is that the coming days give Slot and Liverpool\u2019s iconic No.11 enough space to repair their relationship and move the club forward.@@<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool edged closer to securing automatic Champions League qualification with a gritty win in Milan, but off-field issues continue to overshadow a pivotal point in the season. Salah\u2019s cryptic post deepens existing tensions A blurred Arne Slot can be seen behind Salah, who sits in focus at the front. Mo Salah has stirred further uncertainty …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":56427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/COS-FeaturedHero-Image-Templates-1-15-768x462.jpg.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56560,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56558\/revisions\/56560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}