YAOUNDE, Cameroon – Liverpool teammates Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will face off against each other in the African Cup of Nations final in Cameroon on Sunday at 9:00pm Cairo Local Time as Egypt will clash with Senegal.
Senegal is hungry to fulfill their longstanding promise and finally win the AFCON – while Salah is hungry to take a trophy with his national team after Premier League and Champions League triumphs with his club.
Egypt’s captain Salah did not need to step up in the semi-final shoot-out as Cameroon failed three times from the spot, allowing the Pharaohs to win 3-1 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes in Yaounde.
That was after Mane starred with a goal and an assist as Senegal overcame Burkina Faso to win 3-1 in the first semi-final Wednesday.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp could have been forgiven for wishing both players had been knocked out of the tournament sooner so they could return to Anfield, but he expressed delight for the attacking duo.
“It is a great achievement for both getting through to the final,” Klopp said in a press conference ahead of his team’s FA Cup tie against Cardiff on Sunday.
That game will be played just a few hours before the Cup of Nations climax at the Olembe Stadium.
“So far it’s been a really successful tournament for our boys. It will be exciting.
“Now it’s obviously not so easy because one will definitely be really happy after and the other one much less so, but both have a good chance to achieve something really big,” Klopp added according to AFP.
In head-to-head stats, Senegal and Egypt have met in 12 matches across all competitions dating back as far as 1986. The Pharaohs have claimed six wins compared to four for the Teranga Lions, while two games have been drawn.
The teams’ most recent meetings were in the qualifiers for the AFCON 2015, with Senegal winning 2-0 in Dakar in September 2014 and 1-0 in Cairo in November 2014 – Mame Biram Diouf (two) and Sadio Mane shared the three goals for the West Africans.
It will be a second AFCON final appearance for Salah, a member of the Egypt team beaten by Cameroon in the 2017 showpiece in Libreville.
The 29-year-old has already admitted his determination to lift the Cup of Nations for his country, having made his international debut in 2011, a year after they won their last continental title.
“This trophy for me would be completely different. It would be the closest one to my heart,” Salah, who has won the Premier League and Champions League at Liverpool, said earlier in the tournament.
Egypt’s talisman is determined to go back to his club with an African Cup of Nations winners’ medal. “I can assure that it is the trophy that I want to win most. I work to win it and that is the story with all the Egyptian players present here.”
Egypt has shown the resoluteness required of champions – albeit in more prosaic form. They have prevailed in three consecutive matches that went into extra time, first defeating the formidable Côte d’Ivoire that had just humiliated title-holders Algeria.
Egypt was the underdogs in the semifinals against hosts Cameroon, whom many tipped to win the competition amid the rampant goalscoring form of strikers Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko-Ekambi. But they fought back after Cameroon dominated the first half – forcing the game into extra time and then penalties. Egypt were cool, calm and collected at the spot kick, and so was Gabaski between the goalposts. They kept their nerve when Cameroon faltered to send the hosts packing.
While their victory over Cameroon exemplified Egypt’s cool determination, the Pharaohs’ victory over Morocco exhibited another prime reason why they could take the trophy: Mo Salah. Despite the presence of some highly competent players – the likes of striker Mahmoud Trezeguet and right-back Omar Kamal – Egypt frankly lack the star talent Senegal has scattered around their lineup. But so far they have more than made up for it with Salah’s presence.
In the Morocco match everything rested on Salah. First he bashed in a ruthlessly opportunistic goal from close range as the ball bounced towards the six-yard line. Then the Liverpool icon created the winner with a glittering dash down the right – the stuff of defenders’ nightmares – to tee up Trezeguet for an easy finish.
Mane has endured similar disappointment at the Cup of Nations, playing in the Senegal team that lost to Algeria in the final in Egypt in 2019.
The Lions of Teranga are Africa’s top-ranked national team but have never been continental champions, in stark contrast to Egypt and their record seven titles.
Both players have already starred in Cameroon, with Mane netting three times for Senegal and setting up goals in both the quarterfinal against Equatorial Guinea and the semifinal.
Salah has scored two goals and converted the decisive penalty in Egypt’s shoot-out win over Côte d’Ivoire in the last 16.
He was shut out of most of the semi-final by the Cameroon defence, but Egypt hope he will be lead them to victory on Sunday.
“Salah is not only the best player in Egypt but a world-class player and his presence is a boost for the other members of the team,” said Egypt assistant coach Diaa al-Sayed, speaking after Coach Carlos Queiroz was sent off in the semifinal.
“He is a guide and a leader. His presence is so crucial for us. He came here to win and we hope he will.”
It will be the first time the duo has come up against each other at international level since they became teammates at Liverpool, but it will not be the last time this year.
Sunday’s match is the first of a series of huge clashes to come between Senegal and Egypt as they have also been drawn to play each other in a two-legged World Cup qualifying play-off in March.
Only one will make it to the finals in Qatar later this year, and only one will be crowned African champion on Sunday.
“We know it will be a very difficult final,” said Senegal’s Coach Aliou Cisse. “I congratulate my players because we have come a long way. They had the right mentality. I can assure you that the best quality of a player in the national team is having the right mentality.”
He added, “What matters to us is winning the African Cup… We will face a great African team and we are ready.”
Egypt is through to the AFCON 2021 final after stunning hosts Cameroon 3-1 on penalties at the end of a goalless 120 minutes in Yaounde.
Goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal was the hero for the Egyptians, saving from both Harold Moukoudi and James Lea-Siliki in the shoot-out at the Olembe Stadium before Clinton Njie blazed wide with Cameroon’s last chance to keep their dream alive.
Salah, usually the fifth penalty-taker for his country, was not needed as Egypt advance to a final showdown against Senegal at the Olembe Stadium on Sunday.
“It was a good match for us. A difficult match against a good Cameroonian team but our team knew how to make the difference with a Mohamed Salah who supported us throughout the match like a great leader,” Egypt’s defender Mohamed Abdelmoneim said after the end of Cameroon’s clash.
“Thank God, we succeeded in our penalty shootout to secure a place in the final,” Abdelmoneim added.
The Egyptians had a score to settle as they sought revenge for their 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Indomitable Lions in the 2017 final, when Vincent Aboubakar came off the bench to score the winner in Libreville.
An impact substitute then, Aboubakar is now the Cameroon captain and the top scorer at this tournament with six goals.
So confident was he coming into this game that he dismissed the threat of Salah in a radio interview, and the Egyptian captain was peripheral in this game, too often an isolated figure on the right wing.
He did, however, pass up a glorious chance to open the scoring early in the second half when a dreadfully short back-pass by Martin Hongla sent him clear.
After trying to knock the ball round Andre Onana, the Cameroon goalkeeper successfully stopped him just outside the box.
Aboubakar also struggled to make an impact, although the hosts had dominated the first half and almost went ahead in the 18th minute when Michael Ngadeu rose to head a corner off the woodwork.
Samuel Oum Gouet also saw a long-range piledriver clip the left upright in the second half.
