Mohamed Salah opens up on facing Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane for AFCON 2022 title

Liverpool star winger Mohamed Salah has opened up on the prospect of potentially winning his first African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final and facing his club teammate Sadio Mane for the prestigious continental title. 

The Senegal vs Egypt final will commence live at 12:30 AM IST on February 7, from the Paul Biya Stadium in Olembé, Cameroon.

Mohamed Salah opens up on facing Sadio Mane for AFCON title

While speaking to reporters at his pre-match press conference, Mohamed Salah said, "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."

With both Liverpool stars having suffered heartbreaks in an AFCON final before, this year's showpiece event promises to be an enthralling one as only one of the two Reds teammates will end the day in joy. Salah's Egypt side lost to Cameroon in the 2017 AFCON final, while Mane's Senegalese side suffered a disheartening defeat to Algeria in 2019 final.

Mohamed Salah reveals importance of winning title for country

While Mohamed Salah has won titles at club level in both Switzerland and at Liverpool, he has never tasted glory with his national side. The Egyptian star has won the Swiss League on two occasions with Basel (2012-13, 2013-14) after which he went on to win the Premier League (2019-20) and UEFA Champions League (2018-19) with Liverpool.

While speaking on the importance of potentially winning the AFCON title with his national side, Salah said, "It is very special to win a trophy with your country. 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 tomorrow."

Image: Twitter@LFC