* Mané assisted Salah on 18 occasions as Liverpool teammates, while Salah provided 17 assists for Mané
* Together at Liverpool, the pair won six major honours, including the Premier League in 2019-20 and the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19
* As 2021 winners, the Lions of Teranga, date the record 7-time champions, the Pharaohs at Grand Stade de Tanger in Tangier tomorrow (18h00)
Maravi Express
Centre of attraction in tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Morocco 2025 semifinal between record 7-time champions Egypt and 2021 winners Senegal and will be on two former CAF African Player of Year award winners, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané.
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Records show that in Mo Salah has faced Senegal five times and is yet to score against them, recording one win, one draw and three defeats — while in same number of meeting Sadio Mané has scored one goal with Senegal recording three wins, one draw and one defeat.
The two Africa football stars were teammates at English Premier League club, Liverpool between 2017 and 2022, featuring together 223 times in which Mané assisted Salah on 18 occasions, while Salah provided 17 assists for the Senegalese.
Together at Liverpool, the pair won six major honours, including the Premier League in 2019–20 and the UEFA Champions League in 2018–19.
Salah and Mané shared the English Premier League Golden Boot award in the 2018-19 season alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with all three scoring 22 goals — and as Liverpool teammates, Salah was African Footballer of the Year in 2017 and 2018, while Mané won the award in 2019 and 2022.
Mané has created the joint-most chances at the current AfCON with 14, alongside Ademola Lookman, while Salah follows with 12.
Of their previous five AfCON meetings, Egypt and Senegal have each won two game with three of their clashes at group stages in 1986, 2000 and 2002, while their meeting at the 2006 tournament was in the semifinals — tomorrow’s being their second AfCON last four.
The winner of a knockout clash between Senegal and Egypt has always been crowned African champions, a scenario that has occurred twice, in 2006 and 2021.
Their last AfCON meeting came in the 2021 final, the only match between the nations to end in a draw, with Senegal winning their first title after prevailing on penalties following a 0-0 draw.
The teams first met at the AfCON in 1986, when Senegal defeated the hosts Egypt 1-0 in Cairo in their opening group match but the Pharaohs recovered to go on and win the title.
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At the 2000 AFfCON, Egypt defeated Senegal 1-0 in a group match, while two years later, in 2002, Senegal exacted revenge with a 1-0 victory.
Current Egypt coach Hossam Hassan scored the Pharaohs’ only goal in their 1-0 win over Senegal at the 2000 AfCON, finding the net in the 36th minute. Both teams progressed to the quarter-finals from the group and were eliminated at that stage.
During their opening match at the 2002 edition, Lamine Diatta’s goal gave Senegal a 1-0 win and both teams again progressed to the knockout stages, with Senegal finishing the tournament as runners-up.
Egypt edged the semi-final on home soil in 2006 with a 2-1 victory on their way to a fifth AfCON title. Ahmed Hassan converted a 37th-minute penalty, Mamadou Niang equalised in the 52nd minute, before Amr Zaki scored Egypt’s second in the 81st minute. Hassan also appeared as a late substitute in the match.
Across their four AfCON matches that produced a winner in open play, both teams have scored only once, in the 2006 semi-final. Indeed, across their 15 previous meetings in all competitions, only that match has seen both teams score.
The sides also met in qualifying for the 2015 AfCON, where Senegal progressed at Egypt’s expense. Senegal won the first group meeting in Dakar on September 5, 2014 by 2-0, with goals from Mame Biram Diouf in the 17th minute and Sadio Mané in the 45th.
In the return match on November 15, 2015, Diouf again scored, netting the only goal of a 1-0 win for Senegal in the 8th minute in Cairo.
The most recent encounters between the teams came in the play-offs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in which Egypt won the first leg 1-0 in Cairo on March 25, 2022 through a fourth-minute own goal by Saliou Cissé — Senegal winning the second leg 1-0 in Dakar on March 29, 2022 — Boulaye Dia scoring the only goal in the 4th minute.
Senegal progressed to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 after winning the penalty shoot-out 3-1 following a 1-1 aggregate draw. The Teranga Lions have won both penalty shoot-outs contested between the teams, at the 2021 AfCON and in the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers.—Reporting by CAFonline; edited by Maravi Express
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