Chelsea and Belgium star Eden Hazard has provided a strong message of support for his friend, currently injured Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah. Additionally, Hazard expressed support for the Egyptian national team, stating how he’ll pulling for the Pharaohs at this World Cup, and his hopes that Salah will be able to play in the tournament.
Salah was injured in an altercation with Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos in the UEFA Champions League Final that left the Premier League Player of the Year with a shoulder injury so bad that he’s likely to miss Egypt’s first World Cup group stage game, and possibly the second as well. The latest injury recovery time tables say he could be back in action for the third.
Despite the strong global backlash against Ramos for his incident with Salah, the Madrid captain has anything but remorseful about what happened or his actions. Given this backdrop, it’s pretty easy to understand why someone would sympathize with Salah and Egypt.
The PFA Player of the Year is considered one of the good guys in football and thus very easy to root for. Sportskeeda cite an interview Eden Hazard did with ON Sport, following Belgium’s 3-0 win over Egypt in a friendly yesterday.
“Egypt have good players. We managed to take control of the match and scored an early goal which made things easier for ourselves,” said the 2015 PFA Player of the Year.
“We are glad about defeating Egypt 3-0. I wish Salah the best and hope he returns. I will support Egypt in the World Cup for him.”
“Egypt are so different without Salah but they still performed well with compact lines. Their playing style is close to that of Tunisia. I spoke with Salah after the Champions League final and sent him a message. As I said, he is my friend and I want to see him in the World Cup.”
Salah and Egypt begin their World Cup Group A campaign against Uruguay on June 14. They will then battle host nation Russia on June 19 and then Saudi Arabia on June 25.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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