Slot hails Salah professionalism

BOSS ENJOYS REDS CONTROL AND MO RETURN

- By PAUL GORST

ARNE SLOT paid tribute to Mohamed Salah's professionalism after the Liverpool star marked his first start since November by completing 90 minutes in the 3-0 win over Marseille.

Salah, who hadn't played for the Reds since the mid-December win over Brighton due to Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt, only returned to the club’s AXA Training Centre on Tuesday before declaring himself fit for inclusion for the Champions League trip to France.

Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Jeremie Frimpong and Cody Gakpo wrapped up the points for Slot's men and the coach praised Salah for his conditioning after a first 90 minutes for the club since the 4-1 defeat to PSV on November 26.

“It says a lot about how big a professional he is that he can be away for more than a month with a different team and be so fit to play 90 for us after one day's training,” Slot said.

“He was so close to a goal, it would usually be a goal from him, but it didn’t harm us because we scored three. I saw a lot of individual performances tonight but I would like to single out Joe Gomez.