Yesterday morning, like every day, Mohamed Salah sat at the edge of his bed, back straight and eyes closed.
This is one of many daily rituals he performs to be one of the best athletes in the world at 33. He imagines himself in certain positions on the football pitch and how he may finish the next chance that comes his way – trademark left-footed curler or a missile into the near post to outfox the goalkeeper?
It is a method he nicked from the greatest Olympian of all time, the 28-medal American swimmer Michael Phelps. Visualisation. Salah reckons he has visualised 90 per cent of his 390 career goals before they have even happened. This is not just one of the most iconic faces of the Premier League era, or the finest African player of all time, but seemingly also a fortune teller.
On Friday morning, he would have sat at the end of a bed big enough for this Egyptian King and visualised every word he was going to say to Arne Slot, his boss.
This was as big a moment as any he has faced on the pitch over his glittering career. If it went well, he would be welcomed back. If he marched in with the same attitude – and, by the way, for a player of his quality, his arrogance is justified – then Slot and the Liverpool hierarchy would have had no choice but to drop him from the squad again.
In the end, there was a handshake, and Salah will be in the squad to face Brighton at Anfield on Saturday. A Christmas truce. But just like 1914, when rival soldiers held a ceasefire to enjoy a jolly together and then went back to full-blown warfare the next day, this one is not the end.
In the end, there was a handshake between Arne Slot and his star man, and Mohamed Salah will be in the squad to face Brighton at Anfield on Saturday
This was as big a moment as any Salah has faced on the pitch over his glittering career
It could be a giant step in the right direction of repairing a fractious relationship that threatened to plunge the Premier League champions into a civil war. It has already split the fanbase in half over whose side to take.
Now both parties deserve respect. Some players would have refused to swallow their pride and stick by their words, while some managers would have been too authoritarian to even entertain the possibility of an apology.
It was hardly as though Slot waltzed into the room singing Take That’s Back for Good and, likewise, the Egyptian was not down on his knees begging for forgiveness.
But a truce – temporary or permanent – is…