Guinea’s Keita Flies Back To Liverpool For Treatment

Guinea midfielder Naby Keita has left the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and flew back to Liverpool to be assessed by doctors at the Premier League club.

The 24-year-old came into the tournament short of match fitness after suffering a serious groin injury.

Keita flew to England from Cairo on Sunday night after Guinea beat Burundi 2-0 to reach the Round of 16.

A Syli National e spokesman told BBC Africa they hoped Keita would return to Egypt on Wednesday.

“Yes, he has gone for a medical consultation (at Liverpool). As you know, he was the victim of a lot of heavy challenges in the game against Nigeria,” Mamadou Camara, the Guinea press officer, told BBC Sport.

“So he consulted with medical staff over there [at Liverpool] and they asked him to come back for two days.

“The idea is that he is here to play in the last 1, but I don’t think we can say he will 100%.”

Keita did not start Guinea’s opening Group B game, a 2-2 draw with Madagascar, but did appear as a second-half substitute, coming on after 62 minutes.

Keita started Guinea’s second game against Nigeria but lasted 70 minutes before being substituted and has not taken to the field since, forced to sit out Sunday’s key victory over Burundi.

“After so many heavy tackles the coach withdrew him before the end of the match, and the day after he was examined here and he tried to do some training but the medicine did not help relieve the pain,” said Camara.

“He picked this injury up in the semi-finals of the European Champions League and he has been training and playing but never at 100% and we have to think about after the Nations Cup.

“I don’t think he can play a full 90 minutes at the moment but if he can start and then be taken off that’s a very good thing.

“The manager will have to keep managing him as he has been doing.”

With four points from their three group games, Guinea have secured their place in the last 16 of the tournament as one of the four best third-placed teams.

The West Africans will play the winners of Group D in the Egyptian capital on Friday.

Hosts Egypt are already through to the knockout stages, as are Uganda, Madagascar, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco.