28 March 2023 , 17:19
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Mohamed Salah scored once and assisted another to help Egypt defeat Malawi and send a warning to Manchester City amid their fears about Erling Haaland's fitness.
The Liverpool star linked up with his national team for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Malawi. He scored their first goal in a 2-0 win over Malawi last week, which was his 50th strike for The Pharaohs.
Salah was again highly influential on Tuesday when Egypt travelled to the Bingu National Stadium for the return fixture. He set up Tarek Hamed to open the scoring after just four minutes, with that strike being the midfielder's first international goal.
Omar Marmoush doubled Egypt's lead 12 minutes later, before Salah capped off a brilliant move. The Liverpool winger cut inside from the right wing before sending a through ball to Mostafa Mohamed.
The striker flicked the ball on to the onrushing Salah, who let the ball bounce once before firing into the bottom corner. Zizo capped off the win just after half-time, with Salah being withdrawn with 15 minutes remaining.
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It means Salah has scored four goals in his last four international games, as well as notching three assists. In recognition of the landmark he reached last Friday, Salah was presented with a shirt that carried the number 50 by his team-mates.
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Haaland was ruled out of Norway's games with a groin injury (Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)He is now just 17 goals behind Hossam Hassan, who currently holds the record for the most number of goals scored for Egypt. His performances over this international break serve as an ominous warning to City, who are sweating on the fitness of star striker Haaland.
The summer signing has scored 42 goals already for City this campaign, but picked up a groin injury which ruled him out of Norway's games against Spain and Georgia. He has spent time receiving treatment in Barcelona and Madrid in recent days.
But Haaland has now flown back to City for further treatment ahead of the Premier League's return to action. City boss Pep Guardiola will be praying he recovers in time, with his side kicking off their run-in with a clash against Liverpool, whose star attacker is clearly bang in form.
Norway boss Stale Solbakken admitted that the injury to Haaland had knocked the striker. Solbakken admitted that he had been told by Norway's medical team that Haaland would not be able to handle his vigorous training sessions.
"I had a very broken Haaland in my hotel room at twelve o'clock last night. He was hit. After this press conference, I will not use the word Erling Haaland in my mouth for the next 10-11 days," he said at the start of the international break.
"I will not answer a single question after this press conference here about Erling Haaland. I was told by the national team doctor that it was not possible. Being the slightly aggressive trainer that I am, I said 'it is not possible, Ola?' He was supposed to stay.
"Then I tried to persuade the medical department that we could wait a bit, but it was no use. The damage is what it is. He will not be ready."