In a familiar tale of anguish on the international stage, Mohamed Salah’s pursuit of an elusive Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title has once again fallen short. The Liverpool forward looked on in dismay as Sadio Mane’s thumping effort 12 minutes from time secured a 1-0 victory for Senegal over Egypt in the 2025 AFCON semi-final.
This was not the script Salah and his Egyptian teammates had envisioned when they arrived in Morocco last month, openly targeting their first AFCON triumph since 2010. Speaking after the game, Mane, Salah’s former Liverpool teammate, acknowledged the difficulty of the situation, saying: “It is not easy for him – but still best of luck. He did everything to carry his team until now. Unfortunately one of us had to [lose]. I’m happy [to be] in the final.”
For Salah, the sight of Mane revelling in glory on the international stage, while he suffered heartbreak, has become all too familiar in recent years. In the 2021 AFCON final, Mane scored the decisive penalty to upset Egypt and clinch Senegal’s maiden title. When the two sides met in a World Cup qualifying playoff a couple of months later, it was Mane again who converted the winning spot-kick to seal his side’s place in Qatar, after Salah had missed his effort.
Now, nearly four years on, this latest disappointment will cut just as deep for the 33-year-old Salah, who has spent the twilight years of his career chasing the elusive continental crown. “Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” Salah had said after helping his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals. “I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”
While it would be hasty to suggest this will be Salah’s last AFCON with Egypt, with the tournament set to switch to a four-year cycle, the forward’s long-term future at Liverpool remains unclear. Former Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel believes Salah has been waiting too long for this title, urging him to “go back to Liverpool and carry on with his career.”
Salah and Egypt will face Nigeria in the third-place playoff on Saturday, before he returns to Anfield, determined to put this latest heartbreak behind him. As former Morocco midfielder Hassan Kachloul warned, Salah is running out of time to lead Egypt to an eighth AFCON crown. “He will not stop until he gets his reward. He will play again in two years,” Kachloul said. “He will try to concentrate on the next tournament and win the title – or else it will be the one that gets away as there won’t be many more chances.”