Former Liverpool legends meet for the fifth time in international football, with Salah still waiting for meaningful victory
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he Olembe Stadium, Yaoundé, 6 February 2022, the Africa Cup of Nations final. Senegal and Egypt drew 0-0. Penalties followed. The first three kicks were scored, then Egypt’s Mohamed Abdelmonem hit the post. Mohamed Abou Gabal immediately saved from Bouna Sarr but Eduard Mendy saved the fourth Egyptian effort, from Mohanad Lasheen. After four penalties each, Senegal led 3-2; Sadio Mané had the chance to win it.
Mané had missed a fifth-minute penalty in the game. He’d missed a penalty against Cameroon in the shootout after the quarter-final in Franceville in 2017. “I can’t explain how tough it was for me,” Mané said. “I was sleeping four or five hours a night, five hours maximum. I had a big pressure in my head. I would go to bed and wake up maybe at 4am and I could not sleep any more … Everybody knew I was obsessed about this tournament and wanted to win it with my country … Thinking about this penalty I can say it was one of the hardest things in my life.”
But he steeled himself, using the meditation techniques he’d recently started practising, took a long angled run, and drilled his kick low to Gabal’s right, just inside the post. Senegal had won Afcon for the first time. On the halfway line, meanwhile, Mohamed Salah pulled the hem of his shirt over his head, covering his face. The game was lost before he’d even had the chance to take his kick.
