Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar says Liverpool star Mohamed Salah isn’t all that impressive ahead of their AFCON semi-final. Egypt are attempting to knock the hosts out.
Mohamed Salah has played some massive games in his career, especially for Liverpool, but his Africa Cup of Nations clash tonight is one of the biggest. He’s trying to captain Egypt to glory but Cameroon, the hosts, stand in their way.
Egypt are largely in this round because of Salah. He scored the winning penalty in the Round of 16 and produced a magnificent turnaround against Morocco in the quarter-final. The Liverpool star scored a late equaliser in that one before providing a wonderful assist in extra-time to win it.
Now he’s in the semi-final and one step away from meeting Sadio Mane’s Senegal in the final. The potential is there for the two famous Liverpool forwards to compete in what would quite plainly be the most sentimentally important trophy of their careers.
But while Egypt will hope Salah can get them there, his opposing captain isn’t all that worried. Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar doesn’t believe the winger is particularly impressive.
Mohamed Salah doesn’t impress AFCON opponent
“He is having a great season in the Premier League, he is helping his country to advance in the competition,” he said, per RFI. “I wish him a lot of luck. May the best win !
“He doesn’t impress me much. I say it clearly because I’m an honest person and I have my way of seeing things. If he impressed me, I would say so. But he doesn’t impress me much.
“He’s a good player, he scores a lot but he doesn’t produce a lot of stuff in the game. Of course, he’s doing good stuff in the Premier League because he’s been in a team that’s been there for years. He’s a good player but not at the level of some like Mbappé.”
Well, those are comments that could very, very easily come back to bite Aboubakar. Though, we’re not sure what Salah has to do to impress him.
He leads the Premier League in both goals and assists, having scored some of the most incredible finishes you’ll see all year. We think Salah’s 2021 was his best year yet – and it’s quite bizarre that Aboubakar doesn’t think he even matches Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe is the third top-scorer in Ligue 1 right now, despite playing for by far the strongest team. He’s a sensational player, of course, but matching Salah? Not right now.
Hopefully, then, the Egyptian can convince Aboubakar to change his mind this evening.
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