Salah and Mane meet again with AFCON final place on the line

Three years after they last appeared together, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah meet again on Wednesday on opposing sides as Senegal and Egypt clash for a place in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

The last-four showdown in the Moroccan city of Tangiers will be the first time the former Liverpool teammates have shared a pitch since the Anfield club lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in May 2022.

Shortly after that, Mane left for Bayern Munich before moving to Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League a year later.

Salah, meanwhile, has been heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the near future but remains for now at Liverpool despite falling out of favour with coach Arne Slot before coming to the Cup of Nations.

The Egypt captain is a man on a mission in Morocco, having scored four goals in four appearances on the Pharaoh’s run to the semi-finals as he targets winning AFCON for the first time.

Salah, who turns 34 in June, is running out of time to win a major international honour with his country having suffered the agony of two final defeats in the competition.

After being part of the Egypt side beaten by Cameroon in the 2017 final in Gabon, Salah skippered the team beaten on penalties by Senegal in 2022 in Yaounde.

Mane had a penalty saved in normal time on that dramatic night at the Olembe Stadium, but recovered to score the decisive kick in the shoot-out as Senegal became African champions for the first time.

Salah was due to take Egypt’s next penalty but would not get the chance to step up and was already on the verge of tears as Mane prepared to strike the decisive blow.

Less than two months later, the teams met again in a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off and once more penalties were needed -- Salah missed, Mane scored and Senegal won.

They went on to reach the last 16 in Qatar while Egypt failed to qualify for the first World Cup held in the Arab world.

Both have qualified for the upcoming tournament in North America, providing what will perhaps be a last chance for the two veterans to star on the biggest stage of all.

- Feeling the pressure -

For now, however, it is all about continental supremacy as Senegal chase a third final in four editions of AFCON, and Egypt aim to take a step closer to a record-extending eighth title overall.

Mane, who also turns 34 this year, will feel less pressure having already collected a Cup of Nations winner’s medal.

“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” admitted Salah 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.”

The pair played together under Jurgen Klopp for five years between Salah arriving from Roma in 2017 and Mane’s departure.

They formed a formidable front line along with Roberto Firmino and together won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 -- there were also two defeats to Real in Champions League finals.

But Mane recently admitted that sometimes the pair found it difficult to get along on the pitch.

“I think Mo is first of all a very nice guy. I think though inside the pitch, sometimes he would pass to me and sometimes he wouldn’t,” Mane said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“Only Bobby (Firmino) was there to share the balls. Sometimes it was like this,” he added with a laugh.

“I still remember one game when I was really, really angry because he doesn’t pass me the ball.”

This time they really are on opposing sides, as two former African footballers of the year look to lead their countries to glory -- for the second time, in Mane’s case.

“The pressure for me is over. Before I won the African Cup, sometimes I played badly because of the pressure,” Mane, who has one goal at this AFCON, admitted on the same podcast.

“All that on your shoulders is not easy,” he added, and Salah is well aware of that.

as/bsp