The stage is set for a titanic African football clash as Senegal and Egypt prepare to meet in the semi-final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. The fixture is dominated by the enduring rivalry between two former Liverpool teammates, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, who will face each other for the fifth time in international football.
The Ghosts of 2022: Penalty Heartbreak Defines the Rivalry
The narrative is inextricably linked to two seismic events in early 2022. First, the Africa Cup of Nations final in Yaoundé on 6 February 2022, where a tense 0-0 draw led to a penalty shootout. After Egypt's Mohanad Lasheen saw his effort saved by Eduard Mendy, Sadio Mané stepped up with the chance to win Senegal's first-ever Afcon title.
Mané, who had missed a penalty in the fifth minute of the match, was carrying the weight of past shootout failures and national expectation. "I can't explain how tough it was for me," he later revealed, describing sleepless nights and immense pressure. Using meditation techniques, he composed himself, took a long run-up, and drilled his kick home. As Senegal celebrated, a distraught Mohamed Salah stood on the halfway line, his shirt pulled over his head, denied even the chance to take a kick.
Just seven weeks later, on 29 March 2022 in Dakar, the stakes were arguably higher in a World Cup qualifying playoff. Another 1-1 aggregate tie led to another shootout. This time, Salah took Egypt's first penalty but blasted it over the bar, with laser pens flickering in his face. Once again, Mané scored the decisive kick, prevailing over his club colleague for a second time in two months.
Parallel Lives and a Spiky Partnership
Both stars are now 33, born just 66 days apart on opposite sides of the continent. Mané, the son of an imam from Bambali, ran away to Dakar aged 15 to pursue football. Salah, from Nagrig, made a similar journey to Cairo at the same age for his training. Their careers have followed remarkably similar trajectories, both funding significant infrastructure projects back home.
Yet at Liverpool, where they enjoyed immense success winning the Premier League and Champions League, their relationship was famously competitive. Former teammate Roberto Firmino noted they "were never best friends" and kept to themselves, a dynamic that famously erupted during a 3-0 win at Burnley in August 2019 when Mané was visibly furious at Salah for not passing.
Both have downplayed the incident, attributing it to a shared will to win. "Off the pitch we weren't very close, but we always respected each other," Salah told France Football last year.
The Tangier Showdown: A Chance for Redemption
As they meet again in Tangier, the historical record is stark. In five previous international meetings where both have played, Salah has been on the winning side only once—a first-leg World Cup qualifier that Egypt ultimately lost. This statistic fuels the perception that the Egyptian King has a significant point to prove.
While both are in the latter stages of their careers, they remain giants of the African game. Salah has scored four goals this tournament, though has not always dominated games. Mané has found the net once, his explosive pace diminished but his intelligent passing intact. This semi-final could potentially be the final competitive meeting between the two legends, adding further poignancy to the occasion.
While Senegal versus Egypt is far more than a two-man contest, the framing is unavoidable. For Mohamed Salah, Wednesday's match in Tangier represents a golden opportunity to finally exorcise the ghosts of those painful penalty misses in Yaoundé and Dakar, and to rewrite the narrative of his storied rivalry with Sadio Mané.
