Mo Salah and Sadio Mane are set to meet in the AFCON final after Salah’s Egypt defeated Cameroon in the semifinal.
In his semi-final against Burkina Faso, Mane scored and assisted one to guide Senegal to the final. After Sadio Mane’s heroics, it was Salah’s chance to help his country.
Salah had a difficult test in front of him. Cameroon are the host country, used to the conditions. Cameroon also were considered one of the favourites to win the AFCON.
Reds showdown in AFCON, as Mo Salah meets Sadio Mane in final
While the game was more evenly matched than expected, Salah failed to have a real impact on the game. The 29-year-old had only two shots the whole, both off target.
He had only 37 touches in the whole game and failed to create any chance. (stats taken from fotmob)
Despite Salah playing poorly, Cameroon failed to score. Not only did both the teams play out a goalless 90 minutes, but failed to score even in extra time.
The game went to penalties, where Salah’s services were not called for as the AFCON semi-final finished within three penalty kicks.
Mohamed Abou Gabal, Egypt’s second-choice goalkeeper, turned out to be the real hero. Not only did he play through the pain in the semi-final, but he also saved two penalties during the shootout.
However, Salah’s Egypt will be without their manager in the AFCON final. Carlos Queiroz, the Egyptian coach, was shown a red card for losing his temper in the semi-finals.
Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar had criticised Mohamed Salah by saying that he is not impressed by the Egyptian star.
However, it turned out to be Salah, despite his poor performance, who booked a ticket to the AFCON final and not Aboubakar.
With the final set to take place on the 7th of February, the duo will miss the FA Cup game against Cardiff. Hopefully, they are able to feature in the game against Leicester City in the premier league.
The good news however is that Keita, Thiago and Harvey Elliott will be back.
