Salah Disappoints As Russia Crush Egypt • Channels Television

 

Three weeks and three days after Sergio Ramos twisted and slammed Egypt’s best World Cup hope into the grass, Mohamed Salah returned.

He won a penalty, and scored it, ripping the ball with his left foot into the top corner.

But by then, Russia were already three up and this game was as good as gone.

On show here was not the Salah that had tormented Roma and Manchester City, or scored 32 goals in the Premier League and 10 to power Liverpool to the Champions League final.

This was Salah making the best of things, hoping to deliver a single, match-winning moment even if he knew a complete performance was never on the cards.

The way he shuffled off at the end, as Russia’s substitutes rushed on to celebrate a 3-1 victory in Group A, suggested even he knew it was a long shot.

Certainly, he was not 100 per cent fit, that much had been clear on Monday when Salah jogged around the Saint Petersburg Stadium pitch, testing out his left shoulder with a series of tentative barges but…