Injured Sakho Withdraws From France Squad

When Mamadou Sakho landed awkwardly following an aerial duel in the first half against Crystal Palace, it looked as though the defender would be immediately removed. In retrospect, it probably would have been better if he had been. Instead, he tried to play on, lasting five minutes before pulling up again.

Those five minutes of bravely trying to play through what appeared a fairly serious knee injury could end up the difference between a few weeks recovering and months, with the player set to undergo scans today to determine the extent of the damage. Already it is set to cost Sakho the spot with France he had re-earned in recent weeks.

Sakho has officially been withdrawn from the French squad today, ruling out any faint hopes his injury was less serious than initially feared. There has further been some fear that the landing may have done some damage to his ACL. If so, he would become the third Liverpool player to suffer such an injury in just the past month.

A torn ACL could also lead to the player missing out the entire year, and some Liverpool fans will recall when an already injured Lucas Leiva came back on against Chelsea in the League Cup under Kenny Dalglish only to worsen the damage. He missed the rest of that season and his mobility has been permanently impacted.

The hope, of course, will still be that Sakho's injury is just a twist or strain of the knee ligaments and relatively minor, something a few weeks on the sidelines can fix. The best case scenario would even see him still available for Liverpool's next match, against league leaders Manchester City following the international break.

The signs, though, are more than a little ominous while fans, the player, and the club all wait nervously on the scan results.