Egypt’s first-choice goalkeeper, Mohamed El-Shennawy, heaped plenty of praise atop the shoulders of his international teammate, Mo Salah, ahead of his side’s upcoming semi-final AFCON meeting with Cameroon.
The 33-year-old was keen, however, to point towards the Liverpool attacker’s contributions off the pitch when sharing how the No.10 has been giving Carlos Queiroz’s men a boost in their search for major silverware.
“Mohamed Salah is our pride and the pride of the entire Egyptian population,” the injured shotstopper told reporters in the Pharaohs’ pre-match presser (via Kingfut).
“He continuously supports all the players, is humble and close to us, and he wants us to win the title together.
“People say Mohamed Salah is one of the three best players in the world, but for me Salah is the best player in the world.
“We are all working as a unit, and Mohamed Salah gives us strength and confidence in order to achieve our goal, which is to win the tournament.
The 29-year-old has been in phenomenal form domestically and beyond, most recently scoring the winning spot-kick in a penalty shootout with the Ivory Coast to help his team through to the next stage of the competition.
With both Sadio Mane and the former Chelsea hitman both through to the semi-finals, there’s a real prospect of one Red bringing home the trophy in question, with the former having a first attempt at making the final in Senegal’s meeting with Burkina Faso.
Though some feared that their absences could completely derail our hopes of catching Manchester City in the league title, things have never looked more positive as we look to return to domestic football.
If anything, securing the AFCON would, as one might imagine, provide a potentially huge boost to either star as we hope to compete on all fronts for silverware this term.
#Ep31 of The Red Nets Podcast: The poor handling of Mane, what the hell are NFTs?… and more!