Liverpool's Mohamed Salah netted directly from a corner-kick for Egypt but Reds fans were left sweating on his fitness when was taken off with an injury in their 4-1 win over Swaziland with a muscle strain.

Playing in an Africa Cup of Nations Group J qualifying match at the Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo, Salah's curling left-foot inswinger from the right wing proved too hot to handle for the visiting goalkeeper and put his side 4-0 up a minute before the interval.

The 26-year-old's strike ended a four match barren run for him in front of goal following blank outings for Liverpool against Chelsea (twice), Napoli and Manchester City.

Salah's last goal for the Reds came in the 3-0 stroll against Southampton at Anfield on September 22.

There was a late scare though as he went down in the 88th minute of the game holding his leg but after undergoing treatment on the side of the pitch he briefly returned to the action.

However, with the result already secure, he was withdrawn from the action a minute into stoppage time.

Egypt assistant coach Hany Ramzy said that Salah's injury is just a muscle strain and he will undergo more medical tests to confirm the extent of the problem.

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Liverpool supporters will now be sweating on Salah coming through Tuesday's return match at the Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini unscathed so that he can use the goal as a springboard for another scoring spree at club level.

It was another dramatic strike for Egypt last October – a last-gasp penalty winner in a World Cup qualifier against Congo that sent the Pharoahs to the finals in Russia – that proved the catalyst for ramping up the prolific form that would see Salah net an incredible 44 times in his debut campaign at Anfield.

Recalling the goal and whether the player felt a burden of responsibility for Liverpool, manager Jurgen Klopp said: “Maybe, but I don't think it's a proper burden.

“It's responsibility, of course, nobody told him 'don't score 30 goals otherwise we can't be successful' or 'if you don't score, we cannot win'.

“But the penalty he scored, by the way, I nearly had a heart attack.

“That is why he got the next penalty at Liverpool and missed it, so that was not too good!

“But yes, it's a lot of things, we all have these game-changing moments in our life and maybe that was one of them.

“If you deliver in a situation like this, what can happen to you then?

“Did you see it? The best thing was how they celebrated the penalty.

“It was something I never saw in my life. Germany in 1990 didn't celebrate the World Cup like this.

“They only got the penalty and then they thought... somebody has to shoot. Yes, that was really pressure.”

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A source of great encouragement for Liverpool will be Salah's goalscoring record after returning from that Egypt game a year ago.

He would go on to net an astonishing 37 goals in his next 36 matches up to the Champions League semi-final first leg against his former club Roma.