Jurgen Klopp backs Mohamed Salah to use Afcon pain as fuel for success at Liverpool

Salah's Egypt lost the continental title match to Sadio Mane's Senegal after a penalty shootout

Egypt's Mohamed Salah after the African Cup of Nations final defeat against Senegal in Yaounde, Cameroon. AP

Mohamed Salah after losing the Africa Cup of Nations final against following a penalty shoot-out. AFP

Mohamed Salah after losing the Africa Cup of Nations final. Reuters

Mohamed Salah walks past Africa Cup of Nations trophy. AFP

Mohamed Salah during the Afcon final in Yaounde, Cameroon. EPA

From left, Senegal's Sadio Mane, Egypt's Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Abou Gabal before a penalty in the Afcon final. AFP

Mohamed Salah during the Afcon final. AFP

Jurgen Klopp hopes Mohamed Salah can channel the massive disappointment of Egypt’s defeat in the African Cup of Nations to propel Liverpool’s challenge for glory on four fronts.

While Sadio Mane will miss Thursday's game against Leicester after taking part in Senegal’s celebrations, Salah’s Egypt lost Sunday’s final because of a penalty shootout in which the Premier League’s top scorer did not even get to take a spot kick.

Klopp is waiting to see how long it takes Salah to get over his heartbreak but while he thinks it is impossible for the forward to be more determined than he already was, he is encouraged by his side’s record of responding to anguish.

Salah went off injured in the 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid and went on to score as they won the 2019 showpiece against Tottenham, before helping them lift the Premier League title the following season.

And the Liverpool manager said: “He is happy to be back but massively disappointed. It is always hard to lose a final but losing in the manner was especially hard. I hope today will be better but yesterday we could see he has the final in his mind.

“I am not sure it is human to have greater determination than Mo already had. The experience of playing a tournament, not knowing where it is going and then qualifying in the hardest possible manner for a final and playing an absolutely great final… that all helps in the long term but I don’t think there is a lot of space for more determination in Mo’s mind. He is very determined and we are the best example that when you lose a final it is very hard but when you use it for the next big game and the next tournament then it can be helpful.”

Egypt went to extra-time in all four knockout games in Cameroon and Klopp faces a decision whether to bring Salah straight back into the team. His forward options have expanded with Luis Diaz available to make his Premier League debut. The January signing got an assist 10 minutes into his Liverpool career in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Cardiff and Klopp has been encouraged by his first glimpses of the £50 million Colombian.

“We had a long talk with [assistant manager] Pep Lijnders who speaks Portuguese and Spanish,” he said.

“He is a really nice guy and I liked his contribution in the Cardiff game. Yesterday in training we started with a long rondo and I am not sure I ever saw a player smiling that constantly. We could see very naturally he fitted in the Cardiff game; positioning-wise, he played exactly like we wanted him to but that is only a starting point so there is a lot more to come.”

Klopp also wanted to praise and older and cheaper recruit as he hailed defender Joel Matip, who joined in 2016, as perhaps Liverpool’s best free transfer. “Joel is an outstanding centre-back,” he said. “A lot of people think about what are our best signings on a free transfer. I imagine it would be a really close race between James Milner and Joel.”

Liverpool are still in all four competitions and while Klopp admits the quadruple is improbable, he vowed to do everything he can to see where their campaign can take them.

“If we talk about the maximum it is winning all four but it doesn’t look really likely,” he said. “We are not to know what will happen at the end of May. We want to squeeze out everything in this season. We still have to accept we may not get everything as a reward.”