Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, expressed his satisfaction at the prospect of Egypt being eliminated in the group stages of AFCON 2023.
Star player Mohamed Salah is currently participating in the tournament in Ivory Coast, which commenced on January 13.
If Egypt and Japan perform well in their respective tournaments, Salah and Endo might not return until the second week of February.
When addressing the absence of these players, Klopp admitted that he did not impart his best wishes to them before their departure.
“I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie,” Klopp stated ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal on Sunday.
“From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it.
“So it was ‘Good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way.”
Klopp acknowledged the challenge in finding a suitable replacement for Salah, who plays on the right side of the team’s attack and has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season.
Midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was considered a potential option, but he has been sidelined for at least two matches due to a hamstring injury sustained in the New Year’s Day win over Newcastle.
Despite this setback, Klopp, whose team leads the Premier League, expressed confidence in Liverpool’s ability to adapt in Salah’s absence.
“I think we played against West Ham (in last month’s League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there,” he stated.
“We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible — we just have to use the boys with their skills.
“Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn’t have to do it often but we always found a way.
“But we play Arsenal and you can lose to Arsenal with Mo Salah so it’s possible to lose to them without him.”