Egypt is a record seven time winner of AFCON. But, the last one of them was in 2010, when their current best player Mohamed Salah was just a kid, playing in his first club, Al Mokawloon Al Arab Sporting Club. In fact, he made his senior debut in the Egyptian Premier League in 2010. But now, 12 years after, he is the world’s super star. And he has won everything – The Champions League, the Premier League…apart from AFCON. And it would be quite logical to lift that important trophy too.The last dance 🤩#TeamSenegal and #TeamEgypt will battle it out to see who will go home with the gold 🏆#TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 | #AFCON2021 | @Fsfofficielle | @EFA | #SENEGY pic.twitter.com/8JD0nMlS0A— #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 🏆 (@CAF_Online) February 6, 2022 But, his friend and teammate Sadio Mane is on his path. Senegal have a strong squad (as always), but have never won the tournament. This will be their third finals and after all, third time’s a charm. “I won the Champions League which was a great feeling, and I won the Premier League after 30 years with my club. I won in Switzerland, I won everywhere, and also I want to have that feeling of winning my first trophy with my country. How special it would be. I am so excited and everyone is ready, so hopefully we can win it” said Salah at the press conference before the game.AFCON 2021: Title at stake as continental heavyweights Egypt and Senegal clash in the finalMuch has been said about Mohamed and Sadio, their partnership in Liverpool and rivalry in the African Cup of Nations. But Salah was quick to underline that the rivalry will only last while they are on the pitch, not after that. “It’s great to play against Senegal as a team and also against Sadio. We are going to be rivals and after the game we will be teammates again. We had a small chat after the Morocco game, we saw each other and I was checking how his head was. I said hopefully we would meet in the final and have a good game” Salah said.(2.40) SENEGAL (3.00) EGYPT (3.60)Egypt is the most tired football team in all AFCON. The Pharaohs played two games which ended in a penalty shootout (Ivory Coast and Cameroon), as well as one game with extra time (Morocco) so tiredness could be the factor in the finals. Off course, Salah dismisses that, as he has the good people in Egypt on his mind. “It’s a final. No-one will think about being tired. If we think about being tired we will remember the people in Egypt and think about making them happy. We train good, we recover good, we eat good, we sleep good. Everybody is happy and fit and excited. If we have to go for 120 minutes we will, and if we have to go for 360 we will. Whatever it takes we will to make it happen” said Salah.
