Egyptian international Mohamed Salah's stunning first season with English Premier League side Liverpool earned him a long-term contract with the club on Monday.
"Liverpool Football Club can confirm Mohamed Salah has signed a new long-term contract with the club," read the club statement.
"The Egypt forward has committed his future to the Reds by putting pen to paper on the deal, a little over one year after originally arriving at Anfield from AS Roma," it said.
The squad will be based at ‘The Local Hotel’ in Grozny, the capital city of the Chechen Republic, as a Chechen pair in traditional Chechen dress performed the lezginka dance - a folk dance originating from the Lezgian people of the Caucasus region - as the players disembarked coaches outside the hotel.
The dance is traditionally performed by a man, often with a sword, and imitating an eagle. The dancer falls to his knees, leaps up, and dances with steps and strong, sharp arm and body movements like the bird.
استقبال بعثة المنتخب الوطني لدى وصولها فندق لوكال مقر اقامة البعثة طوال فترة اقامتها بجروزني pic.twitter.com/ca9WuWCD2c
EFA.eg (@EFA) June 10, 2018
When the dance is performed in a pair, couples do not touch; the woman dances quietly as she regards the man’s display.
Focus ahead of the World Cup has firmly been fixed on star player Mo Salah, who suffered a shoulder injury during last month’s Champions League final. Initial reports suggested he would miss the World Cup entirely, however, further news suggested last season’s Premier League Player of the Year could be available for group matches at Russia.
Salah recently expressed his certainty of being fit to face Uruguay on Friday in Ekaterinburg, having already promised to be fit for the game against hosts Russia on June 19 in St. Petersburg.
The seven-time African champions play their opening Group A fixture on Friday, June 15, against Uruguay.
Drama, chaos, and a cat race. The Premier League is living up to its infamous title of the 'best league in the world,' yet again. Eight years since the last three-horse title race, which ended with the most fairy-tale outcome of Leicester City lifting the trophy, we are going down to the wire in the penultimate rounds. Will it be Manchester City retaining their fourth straight title? Will Jurgen Klopp get his fitting farewell in his last dance, or will Mikel Arteta's 'process' finally come to its ultimate fruition? Genuinely, it doesn't get better than this.
Let's start with Pep Guardiola. A serial winner with a hunger to win that can never be satisfied. With Pep, there is always a sense of wonder around him. It's intimidating to meet someone whose brain is always processing and developing and always moving forward and thinking ten steps ahead of you. Given that he has won every trophy possible and has finally won the Champions League with City, there is little to nothing left for him to prove. Yet, he is here, still delivering for the Mancunians.
For this season though, in City's level of perfection, this is perhaps coming short of the high standards they've set themselves. There's talk about Erling Haaland misfiring, yet he is the top scorer with 18 goals. With Kevin De Bruyne's absence, Julian Alvarez is in the top three with eight assists, two shy of the leader. In terms of the most important statistic, they're only a point away from the top of the table. The only reason you can argue that they are running short this term is that their record against the top six looks less like themselves. With six draws and just two wins against Chelsea and Manchester United, it questions whether the top coaches have figured out how to hold off City. The only loss they have incurred is the one against Pep's prodigy, Mikel Arteta.
Last season Arsenal came agonisingly close to winning the league. Then Arsenal did what Arsenal does, succumbed to the pressure, and lost out of the race. Some believed it was too soon for Arteta's prophecy to come true; others blamed the lack of maturity in a squad with an average age of 24. Most believed that would be a one-off sprint, yet, here they are again, sandwiched between two giants who have shared recent glories, fighting, and winning.
To dismiss Arsenal is to dismiss the beauty of belief and identity. Just two seasons prior they struggled to finish in the top four and many Emirates faithful concluded that Arteta was still inexperienced and was perhaps over-complimented by his peers. But his peers are the ones who face him on the field and most managers, to a degree, believed that what he was building would reap rewards in the future. And so, here they are now, one of the most exciting teams to watch with a football that stays true to the club's identity of sleekness.
If records speak for themselves then Arsenal's speaks the best. Three wins, four draws, and zero losses are why they are at the top, though tied. The way the Gunners have played in 2024 has been a statement of intent, conceding only 4 goals and dishing out 33 on the other end. However, it is important to note that they have yet to play Spurs and United away and Chelsea at home. Then again, they are only one of the two teams to have bettered Liverpool this season.
Liverpool has been a different spice this season. Perhaps the mood shifted, and the gear kicked off when Jurgen Klopp announced this would be his last season at the realm of Anfield. This is perhaps one of football's most beloved managers in modern times. A man who wears his emotions on his sleeves and occasionally on his face. His reign lived up to its reputation, guiding Liverpool to an elusive European title and then winning the Premier League after thirty barren years.
When the season kicked off, Liverpool was dismissed to an extent. After the departure of key players and leaders within the club, they struggled to compete last season and thus fell short of qualifying for the Champions League. The last two seasons have been an effort to rebuild, and strong recruitments are now comfortably settling in and challenging for the title. In hindsight, perhaps not qualifying for the Champions League this season might just become the decisive factor to tilt the title towards them. Even on days when Mohammad Salah is not racking up goals, they are finding a way to win – an important characteristic all eventual champions must possess.
Mathematically, even till last week, this title was Liverpool's to lose. If they continued to win all their games, they would have been champions. But this is the Premier League and drama is the core ingredient. Their long-term rival, United held on to a 2-2 draw, lifting Arsenal to the top in goals difference and allowing City to close the once three-point gap to now just one. Now, factually, it is Arsenal's league to lose. However, they have the toughest run of games still yet to be played, while City on the other hand have the easiest fixtures left.
There is no room for errors for either of the three and it may even go down to the last day, down to the wire. Whatever the ride brings, and it may even just be the now-usual City League win, it is still going to be an exciting run toward the finish line.
Raiyan Binte Rafiq is the sports columnist for The Daily Star. She is currently pursuing an LLM, while freelancing for INDIVISA. She also oversees recruitment at Next Level Sports Management based in Bangladesh.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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Mohamed Salah gave Egypt's World Cup hopes a huge boost Wednesday when he joined a squad training session at their Grozny base.
The Pharoahs' superstar has been sidelined since suffering a shoulder injury in Liverpool's Champions League final loss to Real Madrid on May 26.
However, an AFP reporter saw the forward take part in his first training session since the injury on Wednesday, going through a range of warm-up exercises with his teammates.
Team director Ihab Lahita was cagey about Salah's progress, saying there was no guarantee he would play in Egypt's Group A opener against Uruguay on Friday.
"There's a good degree of progress but no definitive decision on whether he takes part, as we are following his case day by day," he told reporters..
Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool must react quickly to have any chance of winning the Premier League title after a damaging 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at Anfield on Sunday.
A first home league defeat in 29 games for the Reds leaves Jurgen Klopp's men two points behind Manchester City and level with Arsenal, who can go top with victory over Aston Villa later on Sunday.
Eberechi Eze's early goal handed the Eagles a vital win in their battle for survival as they move eight points clear of the drop zone.
However, Liverpool's final season under Klopp is unravelling.
The League Cup winners were on course for a quadruple just a few weeks ago.
But after crashing out of the FA Cup to Manchester United, Liverpool succumbed to a first home defeat in any competition for 14 months when Atalanta stormed Anfield on Thursday to take a 3-0 first leg lead in their Europa League quarter-final tie.
Klopp's men have now won just three of their last eight games in all competitions and are showing clear signs of fatigue after already having played 51 games this season.
Slow starts have been a recurring theme of Liverpool's struggles of late and they were again forced to come from behind.
Alisson Becker made his long-awaited return in goal for the home side but he had no chance when Eze was left with a simple finish from Tyrick Mitchell's cross.
"The goal we concede is horrendous," said Klopp.
"It depends on us what it means. If we play like in the first half why should we win the league? If we play like in the second half, we can win football games -- we will see how many.
"If we play to our full level then we are a force but today we played a bit inbetween and that's why we lost."
Palace were millimetres away from a second moments later when Andy Robertson produced a remarkable goalline clearance to deny Jean-Philippe Mateta after Virgil van Dijk's slip let the French striker through.
Liverpool had to resort to set-pieces to put the Palace defence under pressure in the first half.
Wataru Endo's scuffed effort came back off the crossbar.
Dean Henderson then produced a stunning save to prevent Luis Diaz levelling at the back post with an acrobatic effort.
Klopp reacted at half-time with the introduction of Dominik Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold's return after two months out quickly followed when Conor Bradley went down injured.
Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo were also sent on for the rescue mission from the bench.
Jota looked certain to equalise when picked out by Szoboszlai but the Portuguese forward's finish hit Nathaniel Clyne on the line with the goal gaping.
At the other end, Alisson showed why he is one of the world's best goalkeepers with a remarkable stop to turn Mateta's strike over from point-blank range.
Liverpool galloped immediately up the other end and Curtis Jones slotted wide with just Henderson to beat.
Mohamed Salah had one final chance to at least snatch a point, but his goalbound effort was brilliantly blocked by Mitchell in stoppage time.
Unless Liverpool produce a stunning fightback against Atalanta in midweek, Klopp will have just two more games at Anfield before his momentous reign comes to an end.
But what looked like it could be a glorious goodbye is now at danger of turning into a damp squib.
Aleksandar Mitrovic's brace of goals was cancelled out by strikes from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah as newly promoted Fulham held Liverpool to a 2-2 draw in the sides' opening game of the Premier League season at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
The home side took the lead on 32 minutes when they broke down the right, and Kenny Tete's cross was met by the bustling Mitrovic, who out-jumped Trent Alexander-Arnold at the far post to head home.
Runners-up last term, Liverpool struggled to deal with Fulham's physicality but their fortunes turned with the introduction of Nunez in the second half, and he levelled with a brilliant flicked finish just after the hour mark.
Despite having barely threatened after the break, Fulham were soon back in front as Mitrovic, who scored 43 goals in 44 Championship games last season, was tripped in the box by Virgil van Dijk, and the striker stepped up to stroke home the spot kick to make it 2-1.
However, Liverpool refused to capitulate and Salah put them level again, poking home from close range. Jordan Henderson almost grabbed all three points with a stoppage-time strike but his shot came back off the crossbar.
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