SENEGAL 1-0 EGYPT: Sadio Mane’s goal sends Senegal through to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations at the expense of Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in a tense encounter in Tangier
For Mohamed Salah, it was a case of history repeating itself. Sadio Mane had come out on top again.
The Africa Cup of Nations is something Salah has coveted more than anything in his career. “Nobody wants this title as much as I do,” Salah said after helping Egypt beat Ivory Coast to reach the semi-finals. “Thankfully, I have won every title apart from this. But that doesn’t help. I’ve carried the pressure for a long time.”
That pressure was there in 2022 when Senegal triumphed 4-2 on penalties to down Egypt in the final and win their maiden AFCON title. Salah had fallen at the final hurdle against his Liverpool team-mate Mane, who was to leave for Bayern Munich months later.
Egypt are the most successful team in AFCON history with seven titles. Salah is Egypt’s greatest ever player. And yet the two have never married up, with the Pharaohs coming up short during Salah’s international career.
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Senegal have won it just once and that came during Mane’s peak – and he’s still powering their charge now.
The 2022 final was billed as Salah vs Mane. And Wednesday’s semi-final in Tangier was a repeat, despite all the other top players on show in Morocco. At the end of a largely dour match, there was one clear winner.
While Salah had been a peripheral figure, afforded few chances to create in attack as Senegal dominated possession, Mane grabbed his one opportunity. The ball ricocheted fortuitously to the Al-Nassr forward on the edge of the box. He controlled it with his chest and rifled a powerful low finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
In truth it was the one true moment of quality in an otherwise entertainment-light match. Once VAR had confirmed that there was no offside in the build-up and that Mane had not handled the ball, the result seemed inevitable. The ultra-conservative Egypt had offered next to nothing in attack and Salah was powerless to prevent their exit once more.
It is Mane’s Senegal who will face either hosts Morocco or Nigeria in the final. For Salah, it is yet another failure and he is running out of time at the age of 33. His hugely competitive nature will surely mean that losing against his former team-mate makes it even harder to stomach.
Salah and Mane formed two thirds of Liverpool’s famous frontline alongside Roberto Firmino. Under Jurgen Klopp’s management, they were deadly and exhilarating to watch, despite a far from close personal relationship.
As Firmino said in his autobiography, Si Señor: “I knew these guys better than anyone. They were never best friends. The three of us had very different personalities, Mané the most explosive, my role [was] as peacemaker, unifier. It was rare to see the two of them talking. But they never severed ties, always acted with the utmost professionalism.”
That professionalism was on display before kick-off, as Salah and Mane shared a hug in the tunnel for the cameras to see. But it was anything but friendly on the pitch, as Salah showed when he fouled Mane, sparking some pushing and shoving on the touchlines between coaching staff.
In the end, it was Egypt who were left tearful at the final whistle.
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