Soccer Football - Premier League - Leeds United v Liverpool - Elland Road, Leeds, Britain - December 6, 2025 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah on the bench REUTERS/Chris Radburn
LEEDS, England, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Liverpool's Mohamed Salah said he had been "thrown under the bus" as he tore into the club over his treatment after watching from the bench as his side twice threw away the lead in a 3-3 Premier League draw with Leeds United on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Egyptian lashed out at the club and coach Arne Slot, telling journalists he felt he had been scapegoated for their poor start to the season and suggesting that he may not have long left at Anfield.
Salah has become an iconic figure in an eight-year spell at Liverpool in which he has won two Premier League titles and scored 250 goals in all competitions for the club.
"I'm very, very disappointed to be fair. I have done so much for this club, everybody can see that during the years and especially last season," Salah told reporters in the post-match mixed zone.
"I don't know, it seems like the club is throwing me under the bus. That's how I felt it, how I feel it.
"I think it's very clear that someone wants me to get all the blame. The club promised me in the summer, a lot of promises and nothing so far."
Speaking after the draw, Slot said he had left Salah on the bench because he felt the team needed something different.
"We were 2-0 up, we were 3-2 up. At that moment in time it was more about controlling the game and we didn't need a goal at that moment in time," he said.
"Normally when you need a goal, like last week against Sunderland, I brought Mo on. We needed different players like Wataru (Endo) when we needed to bring the win over the line, he (Endo) gave everything.
"We have to accept the situation we are in. The short-term future of Mo is that he is going to the Africa Cup of Nations, but before that we play Inter Milan," he concluded.
Salah scored 34 goals and had 18 assists in 52 games across all competitions last season, but with his side floundering, he has managed five goals and three assists in 19 games in the current campaign.
The forward indicated that his relationship with Slot had broken down completely.
"I had a good relationship with the manager, and all of a sudden we don't have any relationship. I don't know why, it seems to me, how I see it, someone doesn't want me in the club," he said.
Since joining Liverpoolfrom AS Roma in 2017, Salah has become the club's third-highest scorer behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt, but it appears that he feels his time on Merseyside may be coming to an end.
"I don't think I'm the problem. I have done so much for this club with the respect I want to get. And I don't have to go every day fighting for my position because I've earned it," Salah said.
"I don't know what's going to happen now, so I'm just going to be in Anfield, say goodbye to the fans (before) going to Africa Cup (of Nations), because I don't know what's going to happen when I'm there ... it's not acceptable for me, to be fair. I don't know why that happened. Always to me, I don't get it."
Liverpool visit Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday before hosting Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Toby Davis)
