Sadio Mane reacts to Mohamed Salah’s World Cup exit

For the second time this year, Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties to leave Salah’s international dreams in tatters.

Sadio Mane has said he was ‘luckier to come out on top’ in his international clashes with Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah.

Just like he did in the Africa Cup of Nations final last month, Mane converted the deciding spot-kick to hand Senegal a penalty shootout victory over Egypt in the final round of World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.

It ended a controversial affair in Dakar. Senegal won the second leg 1-0 to level the aggregate scoreline at 1-1. Home fans then pointed lasers at Salah and the Egypt players during the shootout. They also threw plastic bottles at Pharaohs goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy throughout the match.

‘I was luckier to come out on top’

But while Mane didn’t address those scenes in his post-match interview, he conceded fortune has been on his side against Salah recently.

“I won twice and he [Salah] lost twice, I was luckier to come out on top,” Mane told ONTime Sports, per KingFut.

“I’m very proud that we won the Africa Cup of Nations and now qualified for the World Cup, it’s a dream I had.

“I believe it was a difficult game for both teams. Our fans pushed us to win, and we didn’t stop fighting. We knew the game wouldn’t be easy, but we pressed to score.”

What next for Mane and Salah?

Mane and Salah will report back to Liverpool this week for the Premier League clash against Watford on Saturday.

The Reds are hot favorites to win the match, with Bet365 pricing a home victory at 1.11 at the time of writing. This suggests they have a 88% chance of all three points at Anfield.