Liverpool news: Model slams Mo Salah for defending Egyptian teammate accused of sexual harassment

What's the story?

Merhan Keller, a British-Egyptian model, has slammed Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah for appearing to defend his national teammate Amr Warda, who was suspended from the Egypt national team after being accused of sexual harassment by a number of women.

In case you didn't know

Keller is among the women who have accused Warda of sexually harassing them on social media platforms. The alleged victims posted several screenshots of their conversations with the POAK star, showing the lewd comments he allegedly sent to them.

Warda was consequently dismissed from Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations squad, prompting Salah to come out and address the issue on Twitter.

The Champions League winner wrote, "Women must be treated with the utmost respect. No means no. Those things are and must remain sacred. I also believe that many who make mistakes can change for the better and shouldn’t be sent straight to the guillotine, which is the easiest way out. We need to believe in second chances... we need to guide and educate. Shunning is not the answer."

Warda is suspended from Egypt’s final group match against Uganda but will return for his side's Round of 16 fixture.

This is not the first time the footballer has been accused of harassment. When he was on loan with Portuguese outfit Feirense in 2017, he was accused of sexually harassing two of his teammates' wives, an allegation he has vehemently denied.

The heart of the matter

Keller now has slammed Salah for coming out in defence of a person accused of a crime, especially since he is an incredibly influential person in the world.

She was quoted as saying by Mirror Football, "This person (Salah) is God in Egypt. Literally. They don’t deal with him like a football player. He is God and he can do no wrong."

"This makes me in jeopardy. I cannot go to my country right now if I want to visit my family. People will attack me in the streets. You know how football fans are - ours are 100 times worse."

"What is shocking for me in the Mohamed Salah situation is that it had absolutely nothing to do with him. I understand the human side of it, that it is his teammate and he is trying to take his side and he is trying to support him."

"But my concern here is that you can do that on a private level. You can go to him and tell him that he made a mistake, 'make sure you don’t do that again, I would advise you to make a public apology and just focus on yourself and your career and let’s just get through this'."

She added, "You know what he has done, so the fact that he is still siding with him is really, really painful."

"I am not trying to take him down or sabotage him, because this is the accusation that I get from a lot of people. I think it is important to highlight that."

What's next?

Salah, who recently won the Champions League with Liverpool, is currently on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations where his side has progressed to the Round of 16 stage. Egypt will either face Senegal or Kenya in Cairo next week.