Africa Cup of Nations 2025: The rivalry between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane is renewed when Egypt faces Senegal

When Mohamed Salah leads Egypt into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Senegal, he will feel the weight of expectations from his country and personal pressure to secure a place in the final.

The North African team has won a record seven continental championship titles, but the last of those successes came in 2010, a year before the Liverpool striker’s international debut.

The 33-year-old was a losing finalist in the 2017 and 2021 editions – with those defeats leading to a round of 16 exit in 2019 on home soil – and was then injured when Egypt suffered an early exit from the 2023 finals.

“No one, even in Egypt, wants to win this cup more than me,” Salah said after helping his team win over Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals.

“I’ve won almost all the awards. This is the title I’ve been waiting for.”

The possibility of revenge will also hang heavily in the air in Tangier on Wednesday (17:00 GMT) as the Pharaohs captain faces his former Reds teammate Sadio Mane, who has outclassed Salah in two of their past three international meetings.

As both players are 33 years old, and the Africa Cup of Nations will become a quadrennial tournament from 2028, this could be Salah’s last chance to bring the trophy back to Cairo after several disappointments.

Despite all his trophies with Liverpool and his personal honours, the feeling still persists among many across Africa that a player cannot be classified as truly great until he has an Africa Cup of Nations title to his name.