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What Mo Salah said after guiding Egypt into AFCON semis post a 3-2 win over Ivory Coast

Egypt had a fine night when Omar Marmoush opened the scoring after four minutes and Ramy Rabia headed in a corner assist from Salah to go 2-0 up midway through the first half

3 min readUpdated: Jan 11, 2026 02:59 PM IST

Salah however said Egypt were not "100 per the favourite" to win the title, with Nigeria, Morocco and Senegal all boasting fine teams. (Reuters)

Mo Salah was in roaring form as he helped secure the decisive goal in a 3-2 win for Egypt against the Ivory Coast in the AFCON.

En.africatopsports.com reported his joy after he helped clinch a tougher against the reigning champions. “I am very happy and proud to play with these guys,” he said. “We always want to bring joy to the Egyptian fans, and we believe we can win every match with this mindset.”

The winger also spoke of the challenge Egypt faced when having to close out the game under pressure after getting a two goal cushion after halftime, adding: “It was a difficult match. The Ivorians won the AFCON last time at home. They played like champions today as well.”

Liverpool’s No.11 elaborated on the responsibility he carries for Egypt, saying: “I always give my all for my team. I try to bring my experience to help us achieve great things.”

Mohamed Salah has scored in every game he has played at AFCON 👑🇪🇬

🏟 4 Games
⚽️ 4 Goals
🅰️ 1 Assist
pic.twitter.com/NEWAPk986m

— (fan) 𝐌.𝐒𝟏𝟏 (@FCSALAH11) January 10, 2026

Egypt had a fine night when Omar Marmoush opened the scoring after four minutes and Ramy Rabia headed in a corner assist from Salah to go 2-0 up midway through the first half. An own goal ftom Ahmed Fotouh inadvertently made it 2-1. Salah however netted the 4th of the tournament in the second half, in his 4th match. Salah needs just one more goal to become Egypt’s all-time top scorer in the tournament alongside coach Hassan El-Shazly, who is on 12.

Centre back Rami Rabia took the ball from well inside his own half and chipped it over the top of the Ivory Coast defensive line, allowing Emam Ashour to run on to it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.

“It was a perfect win, but as I said before, we are fighting for our country,” Salah was quoted as saying later by beIn sport, ahead of the semis with Senegal at Tangiers.

“Hopefully we go through the next game as well, it’s against a tough opponent, but we will give our best. We are fighting so hard, you can see the players, nobody is holding anything. We are just carrying on,” he added.

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Salah, 33, however said Egypt were not “100 per the favourite” to win the title, with Nigeria, Morocco and Senegal all boasting fine teams. “Most of our national team players play in the domestic league, it’s not to belittle them, but we are trying our best because we love our country,” he told beIN Sports. “The game [against Senegal] will be difficult, they have a squad that plays at a high level in Europe, but I hope we can achieve victory.”