Mohamed Salah and Egypt have been knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations after former Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane scored for Senegal
Kieran Horn
19:02, 14 Jan 2026Updated 22:42, 15 Jan 2026
Sadio Mane has dumped Mohamed Salah out of AFCON with Senegal beating Egypt 1-0 in the semi-finals. The former Liverpool winger fired in an excellent effort with 12 minutes remaining to send his nation into the final and Egypt out of the tournament.
Mane and Salah had exchanged a hug just moments before kick-off, but focus on the task at hand quickly returned with the two sparking a clash on the sidelines. Salah had fouled Mane as he tried to break away and though a possible attack was denied, the latter certainly had the last laugh.
Arne Slot has been without Salah for the last few weeks and though his nation have technically been eliminated, they will remain in Morocco until the weekend. That is because there will be a third-place play-off with Egypt facing one of Morocco or Nigeria.
As such, Salah will not feature in this weekend's clash against Burnley and is likely to remain unavailable for the Champions League clash against Marseille on Wednesday, January 21.
A return to the fold away at Bournemouth that weekend or the following midweek in Europe against Qarabag is the expectation.
Salah has endured a challenging season thus far with goals drying up and that resulted in him being dropped by Slot for a number of games.
An explosive outburst in the mixed zone after a 3-3 draw with Leeds United saw huge question marks emerge on his future, both in the immediate and long-term.
Salah was excluded from the squad that beat AC Milan in the Champions League but was named on the bench for the visit of Brighton.
An early injury in that clash at Anfield saw Salah introduced during the first half and he went on to provide an assist as his final contribution before departing for the tournament.
While Salah has been absent, Liverpool have remained unbeaten but there have been three draws in that period against Arsenal, Leeds United and Wolves.
Salah returns to Merseyside later this month with the Liverpool squad in a very different predicament, largely due to injuries.
Slot has lost both Alexander Isak and Conor Bradley to long-term issues with the latter suffering a serious knee injury in the late stages of the stalemate at Emirates Stadium.
Isak meanwhile, suffered a break to his leg while scoring in the win over Tottenham. Hugo Ekitike also missed a period of action, but returned off the bench in the recent FA Cup victory over Barnsley and marked it by scoring a goal and grabbing an assist.
Florian Wirtz also managed that with the summer signing also finding the back of the net twice while Salah has been away.