FIFA World Cup 2018: Mo Salah ‘happy’ with Egypt amid Chechnya political symbol furore

Bengaluru, June 25: It has been a season of ups and downs. Mohamed Salah saw his rise to the top after a stunning debut season for Premier League club Liverpool. The Reds forward even put himself in contention for the Ballon D’Or. And now the Egyptian player’s glorious season comes to a meaningless end as he gears up to play Egypt’s final World Cup game this season against Saudi Arabia on Monday. With both teams out of contention, Salah will hope to at least finish of with a win at the World Cup, or shall we say his last international fixture? Maybe, not.

According to reports, Salah is considering stepping away from international football, after he found himself in the midst of controversy following pictures of him with controversial Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The picture which shows Kadyrov grasping Salah’s hand in a show of solidarity has grabbed a lot of eyeballs. And according to the Associated Press the Liverpool star is angry about being used as a political symbol while the Egypt squad was based in Chechnya.

According to the report in AP, the two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that Salah had stated that he was particularly annoyed with a team banquet hosted by Kadyrov, who used the dinner to grant Salah 'honorary citizenship’. Kadyrov has been accused of human rights violations.

لبت بعثة المنتخب الوطني مساء اليوم دعوة الرئيس رمضان قادريوف رئيس جمهورية الشيشان على تناول العشاء في القصر الرئاسي ، وذلك في ختام إقامتها بمدينة جروزني عاصمة الشيشان كمقر إقامة وتدريب لها خلال مشاركتها في بطولة كأس العالم . pic.twitter.com/MVxOiCfMfz

— EFA.eg (@EFA) June 22, 2018

Egypt soccer federation spokesman Osama Ismail said that Salah has not complained to the federation. "Only what Salah writes on his Twitter account should be counted on."

Meanwhile, Egyptian FA board member Essam Abdel dismissed the rumours of Salah quitting international football. “This is a big lie. Nothing like this is true and I wonder how CNN are reporting these things,” he told Goal. “I don’t understand this. We’re guests in this man’s land and he invited us for a dinner. We can’t refuse something like that and this is very normal. [Critics] are mixing politics and sports? We’re a sports team and nothing can involve us in politics.”

Also rubbishing the claims, the federation said that Salah was happy with the team. In a statement reported by the BBC, the federation said, “Reports that Salah wants to leave are completely wrong. Mo is still with us now and he is happy in the camp. He is eating and laughing with his teammates. He is training well and that means no problem.”

Amidst this turmoil, Egypt face Saudi Arabia in a Group A match, in what will be their last world cup match of the 2018 edition on Monday (June 25).

Source: (PTI and agencies)