Liverpool manager Arne Slot insisted that Mohamed Salah has shown no signs of being distracted by his potential exit from the club next summer.
After Sunday's win at Southampton, which took Liverpool eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, Salah told reporters that he was disappointed that he had yet to receive an offer from the club for a new contract.
The 32-year-old Egyptian's deal runs out at the end of this season, which would mean Salah can leave on a free transfer, and he admitted that he now felt “more out than in” at the club he joined from Roma in 2017.
Despite the end of his spell on Merseyside appearing closer than ever, Salah's form has been superb this season, scoring 12 goals and set up a further 10 for teammates across competitions.
And, speaking ahead of Liverpool's Champions League clash with reigning European champions Real Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday, manager Slot paid tribute to the attacker's focus despite the constant background noise over his future.
“I don't think he's distracted at all,” said the Dutch coach, whose team take on reigning Premier League champions Manchester City four days after facing their La Liga equivalent at Anfield.
“I haven't seen that after the [Manchester] United game where he had some comments, I haven't seen it after a post you told me about, he just kept on scoring. I haven't seen anything today, he is just fully focused on the game tomorrow.
“If you would have been at the AXA [training ground] today, I don't think any player spoke about it, at least not when I was there. Players are focused on the short-term and that is Madrid and that is City.
“By the time Mo's contract is extended, players don't look at it that way. There is no distraction for him, the players and definitely not for me.”
Salah's teammate Andrew Robertson was similarly supportive when asked about Salah, who remains closely linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League.
“All I can say is you look at Mo today, you look at Mo yesterday and he is the ultimate professional,” said the Scotland full-back.
“It is the same for all three of them, Mo, Virgil [van Dijk] and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] who are all in similar positions – every one of them is focused on the next game and training and preparing properly.
“They have been leaders this year. They aren't getting distracted and we are excited for the game tomorrow night.”
When asked if Salah was showing any adverse affects from the doubts about his future, Robertson added: “He didn't look sad to me. Mo comes into training every day with a smile on his face. He is in the gym working as hard as ever and on the training pitch working as hard as ever.
“In terms of that, he's one of the happiest people at the training ground. If you can find me a picture where he looks sad then fair enough but I think he looks happy at all times.
“He's such a focused individual that he will be focused on tomorrow night. That's what all good players do, that's what the best in the world do and he certainly falls into that category.”
Liverpool go into Wednesday's match at Anfield top of the Champions League having won all four of their matches so far, the only perfect record left out of all 36 teams.
Real are down in 18th place, having won two and lost two of the games, but enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Leganes at the weekend that closed the gap on La Liga-topping Barcelona to four points.
And Slot knows taking on the 15-time European champions will be a major test of his team's credentials after an impressive start to the campaign that sees Liverpool top of the league domestically and in Europe.
“It is a very difficult thing [to beat Real] not only for Liverpool but every club that has played them in Europe because they can win in so many different styles and so many different ways,” said Slot, who revealed that right-back Alexander-Arnold is in the squad but will not be available to start.
“That's why they have won the competition so many times because they can win and be really dominant but if it's a difficult game they always find a way to win or go to the next round and that's what makes them special.”
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nicola%20Coughlan%2C%20Luke%20Newton%2C%20Jonathan%20Bailey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041mm%2C%20352%20x%20430%3B%2045mm%2C%20396%20x%20484%3B%20Retina%20LTPO%20OLED%2C%20up%20to%201000%20nits%2C%20always-on%3B%20Ion-X%20glass%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20S8%2C%20W3%20wireless%2C%20U1%20ultra-wideband%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECapacity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2032GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPlatform%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20watchOS%209%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EHealth%20metrics%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203rd-gen%20heart%20rate%20sensor%2C%20temperature%20sensing%2C%20ECG%2C%20blood%20oxygen%2C%20workouts%2C%20fall%2Fcrash%20detection%3B%20emergency%20SOS%2C%20international%20emergency%20calling%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GPS%2FGPS%20%2B%20cellular%3B%20Wi-Fi%2C%20LTE%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%2C%20NFC%20(Apple%20Pay)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDurability%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20IP6X%2C%20water%20resistant%20up%20to%2050m%2C%20dust%20resistant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20308mAh%20Li-ion%2C%20up%20to%2018h%2C%20wireless%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECards%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20eSIM%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinishes%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Aluminium%20%E2%80%93%20midnight%2C%20Product%20Red%2C%20silver%2C%20starlight%3B%20stainless%20steel%20%E2%80%93%20gold%2C%20graphite%2C%20silver%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Watch%20Series%208%2C%20magnetic-to-USB-C%20charging%20cable%2C%20band%2Floop%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Starts%20at%20Dh1%2C599%20(41mm)%20%2F%20Dh1%2C999%20(45mm)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Abu Dhabi GP Saturday schedule
12.30pm GP3 race (18 laps)
2pm Formula One final practice
5pm Formula One qualifying
6.40pm Formula 2 race (31 laps)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The five pillars of Islam
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
How do Sim card scams work?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
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Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
