Fiorentina and Roma are first and second in Serie A on Saturday morning. That is quite enough to charge up their meeting on Sunday. But there is an extra voltage to the fixture, which is the presence in the Roma squad of Mohamed Salah. Five months ago, he was a Fiorentina hero.
Salah officially belongs to neither club. He is on loan at Roma from Chelsea, who signed the Egyptian from Basel in January 2014, when he was 21.
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A year later, after irregular first-team starts in an attacking midfield where there was intense competition for places from Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, among many others, Chelsea lent him to Fiorentina.
So successful was he in his five months there, the Tuscan club quickly asked his parent club if he could stay on.
Tug of war
Salah scored six goals and provided three assists in his 16 Serie A matches for Fiorentina, and he scored both goals in a 2-1 win at Juventus in the first leg of a Coppa Italia tie. He spoke of his happiness in Florence and was assured by Chelsea that he could continue in Italy. But they were soon hearing of alternative interest.
Gazumped
Roma had admired Salah’s repertoire at close hand in the group phase of last season’s Europa League, when Fiorentina emphatically knocked out the club from the Italian capital. Roma agreed a loan deal with Chelsea in the summer that will finish next summer with him moving permanently to Rome. Fiorentina believed they had been let down and have lodged a complaint against Chelsea and Salah with Fifa.
The fastest Pharaoh
World football’s governing body could ban Salah, but its investigation is likely to be lengthy and it may not cast its verdict until next year. Meanwhile, the Egyptian who has 39 caps for his country, is startling Serie A defences with his eye-catching pace and maintaining the fine record in front of goal he had with Fiorentina. He has four goals from eight league appearances for Roma. Add to that tomorrow, and he will be even more unpopular in the Florence that used to be his home.
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