Champions League final: Egyptians furious at Mo Salah injury

By on May 28, 2018
Many Egyptians watched the game on big screens in Cairo

Many Egyptians watched the game on big screens in Cairo

The injury that forced Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah to leave the pitch 30 minutes into the Champions League final has stirred widespread online anger among Egyptians.

Egyptian Salah sustained an injury to his left shoulder after Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos grabbed his arm while both were tussling for the ball.

Salah, who left the pitch in tears, broke the heart of many fans who showed him their love and support on social media.

Several Arabic hashtags supportive of Salah and furious at Ramos were trending after the match, garnering thousands of tweets.

Many users, in posts with the #Ramosthedog (14.9K tweets) and #Ramostheanimal (47.9K tweets), considered the injury as no accident.

“No player goes down clutching the players arm like this. It was intentional. He deserves to get banned,” @MemoK896 tweeted.

Expressing a similar view, Syrian @Ismail_hajOsman said: “He did it on purpose.”

“I’ve never seen Egyptians this furious in my entire life. Oh Ramos! what have you done?” @EmanMohy74 tweeted.

“Egyptians coming for Ramos if Salah misses the World Cup like…” @Boshkaaaaa threatened.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was injured during a challenge with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos

Salah was injured during a challenge with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos

‘We are all behind you’

Most users were worried about Salah’s condition, showing massive support for their beloved star in trending hashtags like: “We are all Liverpool.”

“He is in the hospital for an X-ray. It’s either the collarbone or the shoulder itself. It doesn’t look good, that’s it,” Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said.

Egypt’s sports minister announced that the Liverpool star would be fit to join Egypt at the World Cup in Russia next month.

“Diagnosis shows simply that he suffered an injury in the shoulder joint ligaments. Time expected for treatment is two weeks, God willing,” Khaled Abdul Aziz wrote on Facebook.

Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi wished Salah a speedy recovery, tweeting in Arabic: “My heartfelt wishes to the Egyptian champion Mohamed Salah for a speedy recovery after his injury.

“I hope he is back to the pitch soon and that he continues to be a shining Egyptian star.”

“We are waiting for you, Salah,” added Stoke City’s Egyptian footballer Ramadan Sobhi.

After the game, the British Ambassador in Egypt, John Casson, wrote in Egyptian Arabic: “Everyone in coffee shops is sad. It is all because of you, Ramos. God willing, you will recover Abou-Makka [in reference to Salah] and shine in the World Cup. We are all behind you.”

Meanwhile, an online petition calling on European football’s governing body Uefa and world governing body Fifa to punish Ramos had gained more than 166,000 signatures at 1600 GMT on Sunday.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter