When Mohamed Salah leads out Egypt in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-final against Senegal, he will feel both the weight of expectation from his nation and his own personal pressure to deliver a place in the final.
The North Africans are record seven-time continental champions but the most recent of those successes came in 2010, a year before the Liverpool forward’s international debut.
The 33-year-old was a losing finalist at the 2017 and 2021 editions – with those defeats sandwiching a last-16 exit in 2019 on home soil – and he was then injured as Egypt suffered an early exit at the 2023 finals.
“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” Salah 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.”
The prospect of revenge will also hang heavy in the Tangier air on Wednesday (17:00 GMT) as the Pharaohs captain will come up against former Reds team-mate Sadio Mane, who got the better of Salah on two of their past three international meetings.
With both players aged 33, and Afcon to become a quadrennial tournament from 2028, this could prove to be Salah’s last chance to bring the trophy back to Cairo after several disappointments.
And, for all his silverware with Liverpool and personal honours, the feeling persists among many across Africa that a player cannot be classed as truly great until they have an Afcon title to their name.
It was just under four years ago that Senegal and Egypt met in the final of Afcon 2021 in Cameroon, with the match billed as a showdown between two Anfield stars.
Mane had a seventh-minute penalty saved by Egypt goalkeeper Gabaski, but it was the Teranga Lions who eventually emerged with their first continental title following 120 goalless minutes and a shootout.
Mane returned to score the winning spot kick as Salah was forced to watch on, having been held back to take the potentially decisive fifth penalty himself but then left unused after Mohamed Abdelmonem hit a post and Mohanad Lasheen saw his effort saved.
The sight of Salah trudging past the plinth at the medal presentation was contrasted with Mane describing that February night in Yaounde as “the best day of my life and the best trophy of my life”.
The two nations faced each other again in March that year, in a two-legged play-off for a place at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
That tie again went the distance after both sides won 1-0 on home soil, and penalties again settled it in Diamniadio.
On that occasion, Salah stepped up first for the North Africans but blazed over the bar, with Mane again scoring the winner in the shootout and sending his side to Qatar.
bbc.com