VIDEO: Dejected Mohamed Salah outright refuses interview opportunity after Arne Slot's controversial benching decision in PSG loss

The atmosphere at the Parc des Princes was heavy for Salah, who found himself watching from the sidelines. After Arne Slot made the bold call to bench the prolific winger for the high-stakes European clash, Liverpool struggled to find their rhythm, and ultimately suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes.

Following the final whistle, Salah was seen participating in a cool-down on the pitch while his team-mates headed for the dressing room. Despite his obvious disappointment, the winger made a brief appearance near the TNT Sports pitchside set to acknowledge former Liverpool captains Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman, as well as host Laura Woods. However, Salah was clear regarding the potential to talk on camera, with the Egyptian clearly in no mood to provide any soundbites. He politely but firmly refused to be interviewed and Gerrard, working as a pundit for the match, was quick to defend the forward.

"[He’ll be] frustrated," Gerrard told TNT Sports. "He’ll be sitting there thinking he’d back himself to influence this game and improve proceedings, certainly from an attacking point of view. He’ll be a little bit sad and frustrated. But credit to him because he’s just stayed behind there and done some extra running. In his mind, he’s already got his mind on Fulham and he’s doing extra work, which shows the pro and the mentality that you’re dealing with," the club's legendary former captain added.

Slot was made to justify his team selection in the post-match press conference, admitting that the match conditions forced him to make the decision not to play Salah. The Dutch manager claimed that the final stages of the match required defensive solidity rather than attacking flair, leading him to preserve Salah’s fitness for the domestic schedule.

"I think in the last part of the game, it was more about surviving for us than there was ever a chance that we could score,” Slot explained. "Yeah, you never know, because last season we scored five minutes before the end, Harvey Elliott, when I took Mo off. But I think this was 20-25 minutes where we were only defending. And Mo has so much quality, but for Mo to be 20-25 minutes defending inside his own box, I think it’s better for him to save his energy for a lot of games that are coming up in the upcoming weeks.”

After being left out of the PSG clash, Salah will be looking to start and make a big impact when Liverpool face Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, followed by the second leg against Les Parisiens at Anfield next week.