Liverpool face new Salah contract issue that also affects Mane's deal

After the last of the lasers had been shone and he was hurried down the tunnel, Mohamed Salah would have had time to reflect.

There will be no World Cup for the forward and his beloved Egypt later this year in Qatar, a country in which he was treated like a God when Liverpool won the Club World Cup there in 2019.

That will be a huge blow to a man desperate to prove that he deserves a spot at the very pinnacle of the modern game, and also the acclaim that comes with it, but it is also likely to reawaken his by now almost legendary desire.

For all the predictable tale of a supposed cool relationship between Salah and Sadio Mane - who is now both an African champion and World Cup qualifier at Salah's expense, scoring the winning penalty on both occasions - the pair have never been anything other than the perfect teammates on the pitch, bar the odd occasion at Burnley.

There will probably be a sense of jealousy on Salah's part for he is only human, but Jurgen Klopp will have no worries about the pair returning to the fold and the increasingly exciting, trophy-chasing action, starting with Saturday's game at home to Watford, one of Salah's favourite opponents and a side that he will surely now be itching to face and to take out his frustrations on.

For Liverpool though, the implications of Tuesday night's result are a little more far reaching than just the next few, potentially glittering weeks.

With both players out of contract in the summer of 2023, the sense that Mane's camp have been waiting to see what will happen with Salah's deal has been a very real one.

It has always been expected that the Egyptian would command a higher salary that his Senegalese teammate, but now the goalposts have moved on the pair after Salah skied his penalty over the bar in that fateful shootout.

Mane's 2022-23 season will now contain his usual Liverpool preparations, the start of an earlier than usual Premier League and Champions League campaigns, the World Cup, a return to a Liverpool side who will expect to be chasing trophies, and then the Africa Cup of Nations in the summer of 2023.

With Liverpool expected to go on a money-spinning pre-season tour to a far-flung destination for the first time in three years, then he's going to be a busy boy.

Will that make the Reds wary of giving him the large contract that the soon-to-be 30-year-old will feel he deserves? There are sure to be deep discussions.

Meanwhile Salah will have that month off in the middle of campaign, a spell during which Liverpool will surely be more than happy to send him away for some rest and recuperation following a hectic few years.

With many elite players surely feeling drained upon their return to club action in late December, a refreshed Salah might feel as tough he could run amok in the second half of Liverpool's season.

Would a fresh new contract help with that motivation? Perhaps? Or maybe the idea of playing for one will.

Either way, the situation certainly shifted on Tuesday night, and Liverpool might just be a little more willing to pay their star man what he wants.