Pep Guardiola sends heartfelt message to 'absolute legend' Mohamed Salah

Man City head coach Pep Guardiola will face Mohamed Salah for the final time as a Liverpool player tomorrow and he has paid tribute to his efforts ahead of the FA Cup tie

Man City manager Pep Guardiola embraces Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Pep Guardiola was in no mood to discuss his own future ahead of taking on Liverpool this weekend, but the Manchester City boss did pay tribute to Mohamed Salah, who will depart at the end of the season.

Salah confirmed during the international break that these will be his final matches as a Reds player, closing a nine-year chapter a year before his contract expires. And Guardiola is a man who he and Liverpool have come up against countless times during that spell, where the Egyptian has been the outstanding player in the Premier League.

"One of the greatest," Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference. "The numbers, the consistency... What a player. Incredible human being.

"Goals, assists... Absolute legend for Liverpool, and the Premier League, for all he has done. I think it’s a good moment to say goodbye to him in this country tomorrow. He deserves incredible recognition for what he has given to world football."

While it has been a difficult final season for Salah at Liverpool, the Reds are still hoping to end the campaign on a high. Beating Manchester City would book a place at Wembley for the semi-finals.

"The team made an incredible investment last season to be there many years," Guardiola said. "They are in the Champions League. It is a top contender with top-class players."

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool is seen during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd Leg match between Liverpool and Galatasaray S.K. at Anfield, Liverpool, on March 19, 2026. (Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Earlier in the day, Arne Slot confirmed that Alexander Isak and Jeremie Frimpong could both feature for Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. The former has returned to team training, while the latter has overcome a minor issue he picked up on Tuesday.

"It will definitely be too fast to expect him in the starting line-up," Slot said on Isak. "He trained with us yesterday for the first time and today for the second time after exactly 101 days.

"So, it will take a bit of time to give him a lot of minutes. We will make sure we do the right thing in terms of building him up in minutes, but it’s a very good thing to have him on the training ground again.

"It would be even a better thing to have him available for games, that’s for sure.

"You can even be on the bench if you haven’t trained. But the question is: is he ready to play some minutes? That’s another question.

"It’s a difficult one, because we don’t play a normal game. What I mean is, it could go to extra-time, so that makes it even more complicated if you bring him in, if we think he can only play 10 minutes — if we already think this — and you bring him in 10 minutes before the end and then you go to extra-time.

"Of course, you can take him off again if we have enough players available to bring another player in. So, yeah, maybe a few minutes but let’s wait and see how it is with him today, how he feels about it himself. It’s clear that after two training sessions, after 100 days, it would not make any sense to start him tomorrow."