Answering questions at a press conference in Milan, Slot said: “We let him know that he is not travelling. That was the only communication from us to him. Before Saturday, the two of us have spoken a lot. Sometimes longer and sometimes shorter.
“It is not the first and not the last time when a player doesn’t play that he says something similar to what he did. My reaction to that is clear, that is that he is not here with us.
“Usually I am calm and polite but that does not mean I am weak. If a player makes these comments about so many things then it’s about me, and us as a club, to react. We reacted in a way you can see: he is not here.”
Salah was at Liverpool’s training base on Monday, when he was informed by Slot that he would not be travelling to Italy with the team. Asked what Salah’s reaction was to his removal from the squad, Slot laughed and said: “A short one.”
Asked if he shares Salah’s feeling that their relationship is now broken, Slot said: “That is not the way I feel, but he has the right to feel how he feels things. I have not felt that at all, until Saturday evening.
“I think when I didn’t play him, usually players don’t like the manager that much. But he was very respectful to my staff members, to his team-mates, and he trained really hard. To an extent it was a surprise to me when I heard after the game that he gave the comments he gave.”
