AFCON: Sadio Mane pays tribute to Mohamed Salah

Senegal forward Sadio Mane has hailed the qualities of former Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah and the Egypt national team after booking their spot in the finals of the 2025 TotalEnergie Africa Cup of Nations.

The Al Nasr attacker scored the decisive 78th minute goal that gave the Teranga Lions a deserved 1-0 win over the Pharaohs at the Stade Ibn Batouta in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Mane, who is Senegal’s vice-captain sent words of comfort to Mohamed Salah after their progress to the finals and the Egypt national team for their hard work

Senegal have beaten Egypt five out of their last six meetings

“[I’d like] to pay tribute to Egypt, of course, and as I always said, Egypt, for me, is the best-ever team in Africa and today they showed it again,” said Mane.

“Wow, what a team, it was not easy for us and we expected that because it’s Africa Cup and we struggled, but we kept patient.

“Facing these great players, especially Mo Salah – one of the best players in the world, and of course he’s always giving his best for the team, it’s unfortunate for him today as well.

“But I just want to say this is part of football and yeah, just get up and keep fighting for your dream because we know I can’t be here to talk about Egypt otherwise I won’t sleep all night, but big respect for this team and I wish them the best of luck.”

The victory also marked Senegal’s fifth over Egypt in their last six meetings and Sadio Mane shared his thoughts on the crucial encounter.

“Today was not an easy game but we expected that and, as I said, we had been patient and we knew that any kind of mistake we would be punished,” he added.

“So we tried from the beginning to the end to be compact and to press as soon as we lose the ball to put them under big pressure, and not to lose easy balls because they have one of the best players in the world [Salah], Marmoush and more.

“So we didn’t give them a chance to punish us and we were able to do it very well, and I think we created many chances and at the end of the day we scored the only goal, so I will say we deserved to win.”

Senegal, who won the 2021 edition held in Cameroon against Egypt, will face Morocco at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the finals on Sunday – their fourth AFCON final – and third of the last four editions. Egypt and Nigeria will square off for the bronze medal on Saturday.