Jamie Carragher claims Jurgen Klopp made a ‘mistake’ by playing Mohamed Salah before Manchester City clash

Jamie Carragher believes Jurgen Klopp made a mistake by playing Mohamed Salah against Benfica before Liverpool’s crucial Premier League clash with Manchester City on Sunday.

Salah delivered another sub-par performance in midweek as Liverpool sealed a 3-1 victory over Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final.

The Egypt international has now gone over 14 hours without a goal in open play for Liverpool and has scored just once in his last seven appearances in all competitions.

Salah is also facing uncertainty over his future as he is yet to agree a new contract with Liverpool, while his current deal will have just a year remaining this summer.

Liverpool, meanwhile, will go two points ahead of City if they win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and Carragher believes Klopp should have kept Salah fresh for their pivotal Premier League title-deciding fixture.

Asked about Salah’s recent struggles for form, Carragher said: ‘It’s not just the goals with Mo Salah, he’s had chances, he always will get chances, but his actual general play has been really poor, it has been over the last four to six weeks since those tournaments [AFCON].

‘You’ve got to think how much it would have taken out of him mentally and physically, the disappointments of losing AFCON, not getting to the World Cup, how many times he’s played extra time for his country.

‘I think it’s a physical thing and a mental thing and he’s got to come out of it really quickly. But I was very surprised he played midweek against Benfica, I really was. I know the Champions League is huge, but I think it was a mistake by Jurgen Klopp to play him, I’d love him to be really fresh here [against Manchester City]. He played the first 60, 70 minutes [against Benfica] and