Steven Gerrard hopes Mohamed Salah gets 'send-off he deserves' as suspected hamstring injury in Crystal Palace win threatens 'extremely sad' ending

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Steven Gerrard believes it would be "an extremely sad ending" if Mohamed Salah has played his final game for Liverpool after the Egyptian was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury against Crystal Palace.

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Arne Slot's side moved up to fourth in the Premier League on Saturday courtesy of a 3-1 win at Anfield, but the result was overshadowed by Salah being forced off the pitch after 58 minutes with what appeared to be a serious muscle issue.

Speaking afterwards, Slot was asked if the 33-year-old may have made his 440th and final appearance for The Reds, having already announced he will leave at the end of the season on a free transfer.

”We don’t know... that is the best answer I can give. If I say there might be a chance, that is probably the headline," Slot said.

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”We simply don’t know, but what we do know is that the season is over in four weeks. There are not a lot of games to be played, so we have to wait and see how his injury is and if he is able to return to play.

"What I do know about Mo is that for all these years he has taken so good care of his body that he will have the minimum time required to recover from an injury. Let’s hope for the best that he’s available. But another injury after a win, that sums up our season."

A dejected and visibly emotional Salah held the back of his left leg as he trudged straight down the tunnel for treatment just shy of the hour-mark, and he will now undergo scans to ascertain the extent of the damage.

Speaking on TNT Sports before Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final against Southampton at Wembley on Saturday, Gerrard reacted to the news by saying: "It would be sad, but let's hope that's not the case [that he's played his final game].

Mohamed Salah applauds the fans as he goes off injured

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"It's worse than Mo probably thinks it is now, but until you can get it properly assessed by the medical team, and you have an MRI scan, you don't really know the extent.

"But if it is the case that he's played his last game, that would be extremely sad - not just for Mo but for everyone connected with Liverpool Football Club, because he's been a legend and everyone wants to see him get the send-off he deserves."

With four Premier League games remaining, Liverpool now face an anxious wait to learn Salah's fate - and Slot conceded that only a serious problem would have forced the forward to leave the pitch.

Salah, who who has scored 257 goals for Liverpool since joining from Roma at the start of the 2017/18 season, could miss the remaining games against Manchester United, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Brentford.

Having won two Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, an FA Cup, League Cup and the Club World Cup during his time on Merseyside, it was hoped that the final game of the season at home to Keith Andrews' side on 24 May would provide the perfect swansong.

Florian Wirtz scored in stoppage time to complete the win over Palace

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Slot added: ”We all know Mo and how hard it is for him to leave the pitch. For Mo to leave the pitch, it shows you something, but we have to wait and see how bad it is."

Salah, the third-highest scorer in Liverpool's history, was named the 2024/25 Premier League Player of the Season after leading his side to the league title, recording 28 goals and 18 assists.

He signed a new two-year contract extension towards the end of that campaign, but this term has proven significantly more challenging, both for the player and Slot's team as a whole.

It reached a head when Salah gave an explosive interview to reporters in December following the game at Leeds when he was an unused substitute, in which he accused the club of throwing him "under the bus."

Only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt have notched more goals for the club, while Salah ranks as the top-scoring foreign player ever in the top-flight, with 191 goals - but his opening strike in the Merseyside derby victory over Everton last week may prove to be his last.

Salah form now 'back to normal', says Slot

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Liverpool have rallied after dropping out of the title race to move to the brink of achieving the bare minimum objective of qualifiying for next season's Champions League, with Aston Villa's 1-0 defeat at Fulham meaning they move up to fourth place - eight points clear of Brighton in sixth place.

Goals from Alexander Isak, Andrew Robertson and Florian Wirtz were enough to see off Palace, but Slot was unhappy that Daniel Munoz's reply to make it 2-1 was allowed to stand after a collision between Freddie Woodman and Ismaila Sarr left Liverpool's third-choice goalkeeper prone on the ground.

"The way we conceded was not as expected. Is there a game we've played where there isn't a talking point about a referee's decision?" Slot said.

"The amount of times I've played a game when we've been in a promising position and a player is on the floor and the referee has blown his whistle, I cannot even count, and for simulation.

"We've showed we are a fair team. We don't go to the floor if nothing is wrong. That happened against Man Utd when Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] was on the floor and Michael Oliver kept on playing and we conceded a goal. Macca had five or six stitches afterwards.

"I find it hard that referees don't go into the game knowing we are not a team that pretends we are injured. If we're on the floor something serious has happened. I don't blame them [Palace]. The referee should stop the game."

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