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Captain Virgil van Dijk says <\/b>Liverpool<\/b><\/a> “are absolutely united and go forward as one” after Mohamed Salah returned to the squad for <\/b>Saturday’s win over Brighton<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n Salah came off the bench for his first Liverpool<\/a> appearance since claiming after last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Leeds that he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old was left out of the squad for the midweek Champions League win at Inter Milan, but returned for the Brighton game following talks with manager Arne Slot – and claimed an assist in the 2-0 win.<\/p>\n Salah joins up with the Egypt national team for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Monday and could miss up to eight Liverpool<\/a> games if his country go all the way to the final on 18 January.<\/p>\n “We showed this week that we are absolutely united. We go forward as one,” said Van Dijk, who made his 250th Premier League appearance for Liverpool<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n “Mo is going to Afcon and we all hope that he’ll be successful there and he’ll come back and be important for us for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n “The other side of it is that we all know football and we have no idea what is going to happen. I hope that he stays because he is one of my leaders and still very important for the football club. But there’s more parties to this situation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n