Reason behind Mohamed Salah & Trent Alexander-Arnold training bust-up revealed | OneFootball

The physical confrontation between Liverpool teammates Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold during training on Monday has been played down as "light-hearted ribbing".

The Liverpool squad took to the training pitch at their Kirkby base ahead of this week's decisive Champions League last 16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain.

The day before UEFA matches, clubs are required to allow media personnel in to observe a shortened session that precedes a pre-match press conference. It lasts for just 15 minutes, before reporters and camera operators move inside and the full session takes place away from prying eyes.

But Liverpool wouldn't have been banking on Salah and Alexander-Arnold causing a scene in front of those watching on when some pushing took place and colleagues stepped in to separate them.

Footage showed Salah, smiling the whole time, go up to Alexander-Arnold, whose face certainly wasn't reciprocating the same emotion, and initiate the shove. It wasn't particularly dramatic, but Ibrahima Konate, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott all saw enough to get involved as de-fusers.

It caused a stir among media outlets and fans, two supposedly warring teammates on the eve of one of the biggest games of the season, against an opponent that outplayed Liverpool last week.

The Liverpool Echo has since reported that there was nothing much to it, certainly no deep-seated beef, and the pair were seen laughing and joking together later that day.

But regardless of the now seemingly mundane context, and whether or not intended as a joke in full knowledge that the cameras were pitchside in that moment, it wasn't a good look.

Both Salah and Alexander-Arnold continue to have uncertain futures at Liverpool. They are each out of contract at the end of the season, with Salah going public about a lack of update over a new deal on a number of occasions and putting pressure on the club, and Alexander-Arnold a major transfer target for Real Madrid as he nears a state of free agency.