CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has called Mohamed Salah to follow up on his recovery and to check on his health.
“I made contact with Egypt’s son and my son, Mohamed Salah, to check on him after the injury,” the president said on his social media accounts. “As I expected, I found him a champion, stronger than the injury and excited for the journey.”
Egypt has gone into meltdown after the Liverpool striker injured his shoulder in the Champions League final on Saturday just weeks ahead of the World Cup.
The nation of 100 million people are praying that Salah will be fit in time for the competition.
“I have asserted to him that he has become an Egyptian icon of pride and glory,” El-Sisi added after they spoke on Sunday. “I pray to God, as his father, asking God to save him and have him recovered.”
His statements were received with typically mixed reactions. Some followers expressed admiration and respect for the president’s support, while others angrily accused him of using the incident for political gain.
Meanwhile, Sergio Ramos, the Real Madrid player who pulled Salah to the ground, causing his arm to bend awkwardly, tweeted his best wishes to Salah.
Ramos has been dubbed “the animal” by Egyptians, and has become the lightning rod for their anger.
“It is a shame to use violence to stop what you cannot stop. #Ramos_The_Animal,” Mostafa Etman wrote in response to the Spaniard’s tweet.
“Dear Ramos, Maybe for Madrid fans you are a hero, but to majority of football lovers around the world you are a cancer to this beautiful game! Mohamed Salah FANS!” posted Essam El-Sayed.
Using an array of expletives, furious Egyptian fans directed a barrage of insults at Ramos after the match.
“For me, it was meaningless to continue watching the match when Salah went off. I’m a Real Madrid supporter but I could not bear what happened. Salah is more important than Real for me,” said Moataz Korayem, a 28-year-old marketeer.
“Ramos’ challenge was one of a wrestling contest, not football. And, astonishingly, he got away with it and no foul was even awarded.”
A hashtag #Ramos_the_animal quickly trended.
Some users compiled a video of Ramos’ rough challenges against some of the world’s renowned stars throughout his career while others launched an online petition calling for world governing body FIFA to punish him.
“Ramos is a horrible player. I really hope he would suffer a serious injury that would rule him out of the World Cup to pay for what he did to Salah,” said one user, while many others used profanities to describe the 32-year-old defender.
Calling him “the dirtiest player in the world,” some users also posted a video of Ramos smiling and chatting with the linesman while the distraught Salah was on his way off the pitch.
In a more humorous nature, Muslim users said they would pray for God to punish Ramos while they are fasting during Ramadan.
Given that they should abstain from using foul language during the holy month, Muslim supporters also called on “our Christian brothers” to take their turn and insult Ramos during that period.
Others also posted a phone number they said belonged to the player, encouraging more people to insult Ramos.
