Mohamed Salah, a forward for Liverpool, expressed his “devastation” over his team’s failure to qualify for the Champions League for the upcoming season and added, “There’s absolutely no excuse for this.”

Salah posted his comments on social media shortly after Liverpool’s failure to finish in the top four was confirmed by Manchester United beating Chelsea.

Liverpool will place fifth and participate in the Europa League the following year.

Salah, 30, an international player for Egypt, said, “We let you [fans] and ourselves down.”

Liverpool won seven of their past eight games in a late push for fourth place but, ultimately, could not make up for their inconsistent form for much of the season before that run.

United only needed a point against Chelsea at home in their penultimate match of the year to lock up their Champions League spot and join champion Manchester City, second-place Arsenal, and Newcastle United as England’s representatives in the premier competition in Europe the following year.

Salah, a member of the Liverpool squad that won the competition in 2018–19 and lost to Real Madrid in the tournament’s championship game last year, said: “We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed.

“We are Liverpool, and entering the competition is the very least we can do.

“I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post.”

After defeating Manchester City in the Community Shield, Liverpool had a promising start to the season but only managed to win two of their first eight Premier League games.

Prior to their recent turn around in fortunes, they struggled away from home in the top flight, losing three of their eight away games to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest, Wolves, and Bournemouth, while only losing to struggling Leeds United at home.

Liverpool were comfortably beaten by Real Madrid in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League, while they went out at the fourth-round stage of both the FA Cup and League Cup to Brighton and Manchester City respectively.

Salah, who last summer agreed to a lucrative new three-year contract with Liverpool, has scored 19 league goals this year, including six in the 14 games leading up to the 2022 World Cup and 13 in the 23 games that followed.