Mohamed Salah is facing a race against time to be fit for Liverpool's FA Cup quarterfinal at Manchester City early next month after a muscle injury ruled him out until after the international break.
It is a blow for head coach Arne Slot as the Egypt international, who had scored in three of his last four starts, as many as in his previous 14 starts, as he had put in one of his best performances of the season in the Champions League win over Galatasaray.
However, on Wednesday night when the 33-year-old gestured to the bench to be taken off after scoring a trademark goal, the signs were not good.
"Indeed, unusual and as a result of that you can expect the outcome: he's not available for tomorrow," Slot said ahead of their trip to Brighton.
"The good thing for Liverpool is we go to an international break, and the bad thing for Egypt is that he can't go there.
"We're hoping with what Mo has shown in the past that he can recover faster than other players in similar situation because he takes such good care of his body.
"History has shown he can be back earlier than some others, but it's only two weeks until we go again, so let's hope in that period of time he can be back."
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