A verbal assault that missed no one

 Mohamed Salah's explosive interview has cranked up the pressure on struggling Liverpool head coach Arne Slot as open hostilities broke out at the troubled Premier League champions.

Salah stopped short of saying "it's him or me", but the 33-year-old's claim their relationship has "broken down" is a clear challenge to Slot's authority from one of Liverpool's most iconic figures.

Slot is already under fierce scrutiny as Liverpool's title defence continues to crumble. It will now only intensify after Salah chose to air so much dirty laundry in public.

It was a verbal assault that missed no-one, as he said: "It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame."

Salah did not specify who he was referring to, but made it crystal clear that he no longer has any relationship with Slot.

It is an astonishing show of rebellion from a player who has rightly achieved all-time great status.

And, to make matters worse, it came after Salah spent a third successive Premier League game sitting on the bench, this time watching Liverpool concede a last-gasp equaliser to draw 3-3 at Leeds United having led 2-0.

Salah uses his words carefully and strategically. Since arriving at Anfield from Roma in 2017, he has declined requests to talk to waiting reporters at most matches.

This only changes at Salah's behest, like when he stood outside St Mary's last November after scoring twice in a 3-2 win at Southampton to announce he was "probably more out than in" at Liverpool as contract negotiations were slow to progress.

The impasse was resolved when he signed a two-year deal in April, with Salah marking the deal by sitting on a throne in his Liverpool kit at a floodlit Anfield.

It was all a far cry from the rancour that was exposed at Elland Road on Saturday night. He is now more out than in than he has ever been.

If his time at Liverpool ends in such acrimony, it will be a sad farewell.