As if conceding a 96th-minute equaliser away at Leeds United wasn’t a dramatic enough Saturday night for Liverpool, along comes Mohamed Salah. With his latest interview he hasn’t just lit the touchpaper, but poured litres and litres of petrol on it too. Talk about explosive interviews – this one packs a punch like a prime Mike Tyson. And Salah’s message to the higher-ups on Merseyside is pretty clear: ‘I leave or the manager leaves.’

Liverpool had enough to worry about even before Salah spoke to journalists inside Elland Road. They have won two of their last 10 Premier League matches. They look lost on the pitch, devoid of any identity or patterns of play and to win games are simply reliant on the individual quality of their players to produce moments of magic. But now they have another gigantic problem to deal with off the pitch, on top of their mountain of issues on it. Salah’s words leave Liverpool’s management in a situation they could never have imagined just months ago when they were basking in the glory of the club’s 20th league title, spearheaded by the Egyptian himself.

Salah says he’s been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool. The 33-year-old added to journalists: “I’ve done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they keep the promise.

“I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me that someone doesn’t want me in the club. I don’t accept this situation. After what I have done for the club it really hurts.”

He’s got a point. In April this year, Liverpool handed him a new two-year contract on £400,000 a week. That’s the biggest wage any Liverpool player has ever earned, in their 133-year history. They knew his age and their expert data team would have presumably known what to expect from him on the pitch during the length of that deal.

But now they’re benching him for three straight league games at a time they desperately need a run of wins. Is that Slot and his staff admitting they got it wrong? That they should never have signed off on a new deal for Salah? Maybe. Even if it isn’t, Salah clearly feels like the scapegoat.

It is completely fair for the Egyptian to feel disrespected by the fact he wasn’t even asked to come on against West Ham and Leeds. Has he been at his electric best this season? No. And yet only three players – Bruno Fernandes (40), Jeremy Doku (36) and Jack Grealish (29) – have created more than his 28 chances in the Premier League. His production is down, but he also hasn’t just fallen completely off a cliff.

Should Liverpool sell Mohamed Salah? Or should they sack Arne Slot? Have your say in the comments.

And Slot’s tactics, and the general tactical mess that this Liverpool team are right now, is as much a factor in the general malaise as Salah’s lack of pressing. He namedropped Jamie Carragher in his interview so clearly feels he’s getting more criticism than he deserves. There are a few players you could point the finger of blame at before you turn to Salah, that’s for sure.

But the Reds have now effectively been given an ultimatum. Slot, or Salah? One now surely has to go. Whether it’s selling Salah in the January window, or sacking Slot in the coming days or weeks. This is an untenable situation and one that suggests there are deepening cracks inside the dressing room. Unlike the fictional town of Hawkins, Liverpool can’t just slap a load of metal plates over them.

It is devastating for Liverpool that it has come to this. This is a club and squad still grieving the tragic loss of Diogo Jota. The situation was managed brilliantly by Slot. But clearly since then, he has lost the faith of Salah. There were murmurs days before this interview that the veteran winger was privately questioning the tactics of the Dutchman. On the evidence of this interview, those rumours have some substance. Nobody comes out of this situation well.

So… do the Liverpool hierarchy side with the manager who delivered the club its first league title in front of fans since 1990, or the winger who has become the third-highest goalscorer in Anfield history while delivering season after season of greatness? It is an unenviable situation. Even the Liverpool fanbase will be split, though on the basis of torrid recent performances and results, more will be backing the player than the manager right now.

While externally all the noise around Slot has been of a man under major pressure, the word internally was that Liverpool still have complete faith in the 47-year-old. And that perhaps he hasn’t been given the tools he needs this season, despite a lavish summer of spending. Does that situation change with this explosive Salah interview? One thing is for sure, his relationship with Slot looks FUBAR – f****d up beyond all repair. One must leave.

The season finale is here: the F1 title will be decided between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Qualifying is ahead of us today, along with the final free practice session at the Yas Marina Circuit. 

Norris laid down the early markers in FP1 and FP2, topping both sessions with Red Bull‘s Verstappen in second both times. Piastri sat out the first practice session with IndyCar icon Pato O’Ward completing McLaren‘s practice obligations for the season, and the Australian had some work to do at the end of his first track outing on Friday.

With a critical qualifying session coming up, follow along with Express Sport’s live F1 blog to stay up to date with the latest updates from Abu Dhabi, as they happen.

Football supporters were left bewildered during the 2026 World Cup draw when Rio Ferdinand explained that Uzbekistan would be placed in Group K – alongside Portugal and Colombia. The nation was selected near the conclusion of the third pot by Aaron Judge during Friday evening’s ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

Despite Group I – consisting of France and Senegal – being the first available group alphabetically that wouldn’t create a conflict and contained only two teams, Ferdinand opted to slot Uzbekistan into Group K instead. Defending the call, the ex- Manchester United centre-back said: “We’ve got factors here, so I’m going to take Uzbekistan and put them into Group K in position three. And we skipped [Group] I because of teams that are yet to be drawn. So we’ll wait for those teams to be drawn in the next pot, so we’re going to have to move on and we’ll wait for them.”

With Norway and Panama being the sole remaining sides, Panama eventually joined Group L with England and Croatia, while Norway was allocated to Group I alongside France and Senegal – as no more than two UEFA nations are permitted in the same group for next summer’s tournament. Although the draw proceeded rapidly to pot four shortly afterwards, supporters remained perplexed online by the decision to match Uzbekistan with Portugal and Colombia.

One user wrote on X: “Does anyone have an explanation why Portugal got Uzbekistan instead of Norway?” Another also queried: “Why can’t Uzbekistan go into a group with Senegal and France?” And a third mused: “Umm, why could Uzbekistan not be drawn in Group I?”

Fortunately, several social media users were on hand to clarify the puzzling situation. One explained: “They needed an available Europe x 2 + Africa group so that the Bolivian/Surinam/Iraq-slot had somewhere to go.”

Meanwhile, another Reddit user posted: “It’s actually quite simple. Before the draw even started, it was known that the winner of the Iraq play-off would be in a group with 2 European teams and 1 African team due to the 1 team per confederation rule. When Uzbekistan was drawn, Group I was the only group remaining that would make this possible.”

According to FIFA’s tournament rules: “FIFA’s general principle, whenever possible, is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn in it. This is applicable to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams.

“Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it. Thus, four out of the 12 groups will contain two of the 16 UEFA teams (including the four play-off placeholders).”

Given that, at the time of the draw, Group I was the only feasible group to accommodate two European teams and an African team, as it already included France and Senegal, adding Uzbekistan would have subsequently led to conflicts in the next stage of the draw.