Russia vs. Egypt: Mohamed Salah to start Against Russia

Egypt coach, Hector Cuper has put Mohamed Salah in his starting lineup for tonight's World Cup game against tournament hosts Russia in Saint Petersburg.

The 26-year-old spent the full 90 minutes of the Pharaohs' 1-0 loss to Uruguay in their Group A opener on the bench as a result of a shoulder injury sustained for his club side, Liverpool.

More than three weeks on from hobbling out of Liverpool's Champions League final meeting with Real Madrid, however, Salah is back involved and will be used from the start at the Krestovsky Stadium.

Right-back Ahmed Fathi is now okay after suffering a minor ankle injury problem, meanwhile, and defensive midfielder Tarek Hamed – subbed off in the loss to Uruguay on Friday – is also deemed fit enough to start.

On the other hand, the home side manager, Stanislav Cherchesov has handed a start to Denis Cheryshev following his two-goal came on from the bench in last week's 5-0 victory against Saudi Arabia.

Cheryshev fills in for Alan Dzagoev, who is a doubt for the remainder of Russia's tournament campaign, but Yuri Zhirkov is thrown in from the start in spite of complaining of an ankle injury.

Artem Dzyuba is the other change made by Cherchesov, with Fyodor Smolov dropping down to the bench.

Russia: Akinfeev; Fernandes, Kutepov, Ignashevich, Zhirkov; Gazinskiy, Zobnin; Samedov, Golovin, Cheryshev; Dzyuba

Subs: Semenov, Kuziaev, Smolov, Lunev, Kudriashov, Granat, Al Miranchuk, An Miranchuk, Gabulov, Erokhin, Smolinkov

Egypt: El Shenawy; Abdelshafy, Hegazy, Gabr, Fathy; Hamed, Elneny; Trezeguet, Elsaid, Salah; Mohsen

Subs: Elhadary, Elmohamady, Gaber, Morsy, Kahraba, A. Ashraf, Ramadan, M. Hamdy, Ekramy, Shikabala, Samir, Warda

This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago

Greg is a Sports content writer. He has many years of experience in Sports Writing. He was a writer for Opera News and is Editor-in-Chief at GoalBall.