Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have been the two best African players in the Premier League for about five years now. Salah has a claim to be the greatest African forward of all time if he keeps his numbers up, and his friend and teammate, Mane, has helped him a lot in this endeavor.
However, the two have found themselves squared up against each other as their countries clashed in the finals of the AFCON cup. Senegal got the win in that game on penalties, but Egypt had a chance to exact revenge in their World Cup Play-off match.
The stakes were high as the winner of the tie would go to the World Cup in Qatar. But this time, too, Senegal took the win via another penalty shootout. However, the match had a few controversial moments.
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Salah’s penalty miss in the World Cup Qualifier
In the first half of the World Cup Qualifier, Egypt was awarded a penalty. Mohamed Salah stepped up to take it but the Senegalese fans in the stands immediately shined lasers in his eyes. Salah missed his penalty and several fans blamed it on the lasers.
FIFA seems to agree with that fact as they recently fined the Senegalese Football Federation $180,000 for the incident. FIFA also added that Senegalese fans invaded the pitch after the game and had an offensive banner, showing an inability to uphold order in the stadium from Senegal’s authorities, which resulted in the ban.
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Mohamed Salah and his fantastic season
His failures with the national team haven’t derailed Salah’s spectacular season for Liverpool. The Egyptian forward has been in fantastic form this season and has been one of the best players in the world along with Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and PSG’s Kylian Mbappe.
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Liverpool is still in the running for both the Champions League title and the Premier League title. Moreover, they have also reached the final of the FA Cup. There is a possibility that Liverpool can win the quadruple this season, and if they do so, Salah would definitely win the Ballon d’Or this year.
Read More: WATCH: Lionel Messi Hits Some Spectacular Trick Shots to Prepare for the World Cup