Mohamed Salah arrives at the Africa Cup of Nations with unfinished business. Despite two Premier League titles and the Champions League with Liverpool, the continental trophy remains absent from his record after two previous final defeats with Egypt.

That gap was placed under sharp focus on Channel 4 as Egypt reached the semi-final. Former midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha warned: “In Africa you might win whatever trophy with your club, if you don’t win anything for your nation, they don’t regard you as a legend.” His point was echoed by Mikel John Obi: “This man here will be looking to get his hand on this tournament because he hasn’t won it. You can talk about the Premier League and the Champions League, but he has to win the AFCON.”

Salah has been central to Egypt’s progress. He has featured in four of the team’s five matches at the tournament, scoring in each appearance and supplying his first assist of the competition in Saturday’s 3–2 win over holders Ivory Coast.

Reflecting on that victory, Salah said: “It was a perfect win, but as I said before, we are fighting for our country.” He added: “Hopefully we go through the next game as well, it’s against a tough opponent, but we will give our best. We are fighting so hard, you can see the players, nobody is holding anything back. We are just carrying on.”

Egypt now prepare for Wednesday’s semi-final against Senegal. Salah’s involvement in the latter stages of the tournament carries implications for his club availability. His return to Liverpool will be delayed, with the Reds confirmed to be without him for Saturday’s meeting with Burnley. The midweek Champions League fixture with Marseille is now the earliest possible match for his comeback.

The AFCON final is scheduled for Jan. 18. If Egypt reach that match, Salah may not rejoin Liverpool until the trip to Bournemouth the following weekend.

Virgil van Dijk cut through the headlines after Liverpool’s 0-0 draw at Arsenal on Thursday, asking why the Reds were receiving credit for a match that produced little attacking substance.

Arne Slot’s side recorded 52% possession away from home but failed to register a single shot on target. The fixture was described by van Dijk as “largely devoid of attacking quality in the final third” as Liverpool struggled to turn control of the ball into clear goal attempts.

Van Dijk made his feelings plain on the reaction to the performance. “I am a bit surprised that people think this is a good performance because when we have 60 or 70% ball possession against other teams people find it boring and now it is a good performance,” he said.

He was equally candid about the team’s shortcomings in decisive areas. “But again we hardly created a chance and now we say, ‘What a performance.’ This is who were are, we can dominate possession, we know how to do build-up, but we struggle, obviously, in a few things.

“Set pieces are one of them, dominating moments when we are in the final third, to find the right pass and the right execution, that is something that is still not at the level some other teams are and that’s why we are working every single day.

“Yes we did really well in ball possession but for me it wasn’t that much different than playing Leeds at home or Fulham away, where we dominated ball possession as well.

“But then people are annoyed that these teams are not of the magnitude of Arsenal it is not good enough, which I completely agree on, by the way, because I want to see us creating more chances as well.”

The match’s major incident saw Conor Bradley stretchered off after falling while challenging for a long ball. Gabriel Martinelli was widely criticised for dropping the ball on a prone Bradley and attempting to force him off the field; Martinelli later apologised, saying he did not understand the severity of the situation.

Van Dijk addressed the incident and Bradley’s condition: “Our thoughts are with Conor, first and foremost,” Van Dijk reflected. “Hopefully it’s not the worst but it doesn’t look great.

“A long ball came over, Conor was challenging for it and then he fell down on the pitch. Martinelli obviously then pushes him off the pitch. Our players reacted to that and we all came together. Everyone was unhappy with that moment and rightly so.

“It doesn’t look great for Conor and it doesn’t look great on Martinelli either. We are focusing on Conor. He’ll have medical tests in the next 24 hours and then we’ll have to adapt.”

Conor Bradley was forced from the pitch on a stretcher after a late knee twist, a sequence that has left Liverpool manager Arne Slot “fearing the worst.” The incident began when Arsenal’s No. 11 dropped the ball onto the prone defender and then attempted to shove him off the field to restart play. That shove ignited a mass brawl which further delayed the match.

Players from Liverpool reacted angrily at what was described as Martinelli’s disregard for a clearly injured opponent. Bradley was later seen leaving the stadium on crutches with his left knee in a brace; there was no suggestion he had been feigning the problem.

Slot was cautious on specifics but clear on the concern. “We have to wait on the scans if it’s that bad,” Slot acknowledged. “But it doesn’t look great if Conor has the injury which we fear he might have.”

The Liverpool manager tempered criticism of the Arsenal forward. “I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy,” he said. “I’m 100% sure that if he knew what the injury might be, that he would never do that,” Slot insisted. “I think the problem for him—and it’s a problem in general in football—is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending that they are injured in the final parts of the game and during the game, that you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to try to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting.

“You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clear in the 94th minute.”

Martinelli posted on social media to say he had contacted Bradley. “Conor and I have messaged and I have already apologised to him,” Martinelli wrote on Instagram. “I really didn’t understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment. I want to say I’m deeply sorry for reacting.

“Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery.”

Arsenal’s manager added a character reference for his player. “Knowing Gabi, if anybody knows Gabi, it’s an incredibly lovely guy and probably he didn’t realise what happened,” the Basque boss declared. “I hope that Conor is well. I will have a word with him now to understand that, but probably he didn’t recognise what happened.”

Broadcasters reacted strongly. Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville called the action unacceptable. “I am actually fuming with Martinelli, I don’t know how the Liverpool players didn’t go over and absolutely whack him to be honest with you and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful, that,” he seethed. Roy Keane recalled a similar personal experience. “I didn’t like it,” the former Manchester United captain said of the Martinelli incident. “It happened to me when I was badly injured and a player stood over me, and it’s not good.