• Forward launches astonishing attack on Arne Slot

• Salah benched at Leeds for third consecutive match

Mohamed Salah has accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” after being left out of the starting lineup for the third game running as the champions drew at Leeds, saying he has been made a scapegoat for the poor start to the season and casting severe doubt on his future at the club.

“I can’t believe … I’m sitting on the bench for 90 minutes,” the Egypt international said. “The third time on the bench, I think for the first time in my career. I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why.

So long as the Premier League invests in its players and Fifa pays it lip service, the continent’s flagship tournament will always struggle to fit in

Perhaps attitudes are not quite as parochial as they once were, but it remains true that, in England at least, the Africa Cup of Nations is discussed less as a tournament in its own right than in terms of what it means for the Premier League.

There will be the usual harrumphing about why the tournament is played in the middle of our season, but the Confederation of African Football has tried to satisfy European clubs only to be thwarted by Fifa and the increasing demands of the calendar.

It was breathless, it was thrilling and it made very little sense.

Twice Liverpool seemed to have the game won but the ruthless competence of last season has gone. It seems almost incredible now that this was a club that won the league with a series of cold-eyed 2-0 victories. They led 2-0 here, and were 3-2 up four minutes into injury time, yet still couldn’t manage a win.

How each team qualified, who will be favourites to progress to the knockout stage and which games to look out for

The opening game in the Azteca will be a repeat of the opener in 2010 when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico in Soccer City, Soweto. Mexico have won one knockout game at the World Cup, beating Bulgaria last time they hosted, in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that side and will be targeting their third quarter-final as hosts. South Africa, coached by the veteran Belgian Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin, despite having a game against Lesotho they appeared to have won awarded against them for fielding a suspended player.