Online Reporter
EGYPTIAN attacker Mohamed Salah has sent out a message to the fans of the Pharaohs and their next opponents, Senegal, that they are battle ready ahead of their semi-final tie at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Egypt completed the semi-finals fixtures on Saturday night when they beat Cote d’lvoire 3-2.
Nigeria also defeated Algeria 2-0 to set up a semi-final clash with the host nation, Morocco.
Salah, a Liverpool legend, was the man-of-the-match for the game against Cote d’lvoire and speaking to SuperSport afterwards, he said that the Pharaohs are focused on beating the next opponents, the Lions of Taranga.
“We’ll go through the next game as well. It’s top opponent, of course, and we’ll give it our best,” he said.
Asked what is the message for the people back home, the Liverpool forward added, “The only thing I would say is, we fight so hard and you can see the players, nobody holds anything.
“So I’m glad that I see that from the players and from the manager as well. So we just have to carry on and just give our best, and we’ll see.”
Cote d’lvoire coach, Émerse Fae has revealed why his team were defeated 3-2 against Egypt in the quarter-final fixture of the AFCON in Morocco.
Fae watched as goals from Salah, Omar Marmoush, and Ramy Rabia gave the Pharaohs the victory against Cote d’lvoire.
Guéla Doué and Ahmed Fatouh (own goal) did score for the AFCON defending champions during the encounter.
Speaking to reporters after the game at his post-match interview, Fae admitted that his team made too many mistakes against the North Africans.
“We are frustrated by tonight’s result, but we made far too many mistakes at key moments in the match to hope to eliminate them,” Fae said.
“What hurts most tonight are those mistakes. It took us some time to get into the match. I regret conceding the first goal so early, as well as the second.”
Earlier in the competition, Senegal had already booked their place with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Mali, Iliman Ndiaye’s first-half strike proving decisive in a tense West African derby. — Agencies.
