Mo Salah to start for Egypt against Russia

Mohamed Salah will make his return from injury to start for Egypt in their Group A  2018 FIFA World Cup game against Russia on Tuesday night.

The Liverpool star, who suffered a shoulder injury in the Champions League final last month, was on bench in Egypt’s opening game defeat to Uruguay but was named to the starting lineup for the Pharaohs’ second match.

The 26-year-old showed signs of discomfort with his shoulder while taking part in Egypt’s final training session on Monday.

Egypt is seeking a vital to keep alive its hopes of advancing from the group after it lost its opening match 1-0 to Uruguay.

Salah’s introduction in the only change for Egypt as he replaces Amr Warda.

On the other side, Russia winger Denis Cheryshev has been promoted to the starting lineup after scoring twice as a substitute in Thursday’s tournament-opening 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

Egypt: Mohamed Elshenawy; Ali Gabr, Ahmed Hegazy, Mohamed Abdelshafy, Ahmed Fathi; Tarek Hamed, Mohamed Elneny, Abdalla Said, Mohamed Salah, Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan; Marwan Mohsen

Russia: Igor Akinfeev; Mario Fernandes, Ilya Kutepov, Sergei Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov; Denis Cheryshev, Yuri Gazinsky, Roman Zobnin, Alexander Golovin, Alexander Samedov; Artem Dzyuba

 

Anthony Nlebem reporting from Saint Petersburg/Russia