Mohamed Salah suffers brutal end to AFCON journey at same time as Liverpool splutters again

Mohamed Salah missed a penalty in Egypt's third-place African Cup of Nations shootout against Nigeria on the same day Liverpool dropped points at home to 19th place Burnley

Mohamed Salah missed a penalty in Egypt's African Cup of Nations third-place place shootout against Nigeria(Image: Getty Images)

Mohamed Salah suffered more African Cup of Nations (AFCON) heartbreak with Egypt at almost the same time as Liverpool dropped points at home in the Premier League to 19th-place Burnley.

Saturday's action at Anfield saw the Reds draw 1-1 with Burnley, a game in which Dominik Szoboszlai hit the crossbar with a thunderous penalty in the first half. Florian Wirtz spared his teammates blushes when he opened the scoring before the break with an excellent strike, only for Burnley to equalise after half-time through Marcus Edwards.

While boos rang out around Anfield at full-time, Salah was competing in the third-place match at AFCON, with Egypt facing Nigeria. Just days prior, the Liverpool forward was left heartbroken after former teammate Sadio Mane scored the winner for Senegal to prevent Egypt from making Sunday's final against Morocco.

With the game in Morocco at Stade Mohammed V finishing 0-0, it went to penalties, with Salah stepping up first for Egypt. However, the 33-year-old saw his spot-kick saved by Stanley Nwabali.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru also missed Nigeria's first penalty, meaning Salah's saved spot-kick went unpunished. But Egypt's second penalty taker, Manchester City's Omar Marmoush, also had his effort saved by Nwabali.

Salah missed his shootout penalty against Nigeria(Image: Getty Images)

Nigeria then went on to score their next four penalties, with Ademola Lookman scoring the winning spot-kick to give Nigeria a 4-2 shootout win. Salah is now set to return to Merseyside following the third-placed match.

The Reds, who sit fourth in the Premier League, are back in action in midweek against Marseille on Wednesday. The Egyptian forward could return for that game, and should he not, he will be back in the Reds squad for their trip to face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium next weekend.

While there are still doubts surrounding his future on Merseyside following his outburst against Arne Slot, which led to him being omitted from their Champions League squad against Inter Milan back in December, the Dutchman outlined Salah's importance to the club ahead of the game against Burnley.

"First of all, he plays a big game for Egypt on Saturday and then he comes back to us," said Slot.

Dominik Szobozlai's penalty cannoned off the cross bar(Image: Getty Images)

"I am happy he comes back. Mo has been so important for this club and me, so I am happy he is back. Even if I had 15 attackers, I would be happy to see Mo back but that is not our situation.

"Happy to have him back after an important game tomorrow."

He added of the possibility Salah could feature against Marseille: "We are in talks with him and what is expected of him over there and over here. He has an important game on Saturday and then he will be back with us. We are talking together about [the Marseille game] now."