A new record for Mohamed Salah that places him among African legends

Egyptian international star Mohamed Salah continues his hobby of breaking records during his busy career with the football club, after he led his country to advance to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

Salah scored a goal during the Egyptian team’s 3-1 victory over its Beninese counterpart, yesterday, Monday, in the round of 16 of the continental competition, currently being held in Morocco, where the (Pharaohs) team set a date in the next round with the winner of the match between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, which will be held later this evening in the round of 16.

Mohamed Salah, the star of the English Liverpool team, became one of the players who scored the most against the largest number of teams in the history of the prestigious tournament, in the largest number of different editions in the history of the African Cup of Nations, the first edition of which was launched in 1957, after visiting the nets of 10 different teams in the competition.

Salah, the best African player in 2017 and 2018, equaled this achievement with three football legends in the African continent: Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, Ivorian Didier Drogba and Ghanaian Andre Ayew, who also managed to score in 10 different teams.

Samuel Eto’o, the all-time top scorer in the African Cup of Nations, with 18 goals, succeeded in scoring for 10 different teams through his multiple participations with the Untamed Lions team, benefiting from his physical presence and ability to appear in major moments.

The same applies to Didier Drogba, the scorer of 11 goals in the history of African Nations, who also scored them against 10 different teams, as is the case of Andre Ayew, who scored 10 goals in the history of his participation in the prestigious competition.

Salah, 33 years old, can still hold the record, especially since he is the only one on this list who can score more goals with the Egyptian national team, the historical champion of the African nations, in that edition, as Drogba and Eto’o officially retired, while Ayew will miss the tournament, after the Ghana national team failed to reach the finals.

Salah scored his first goal in the Nations of Africa, during the 2017 edition of the competition in Gabon, when he fired a thunderous missile from a direct free kick that tore through the Ghanaian team’s net in the group stage, leading the Pharaohs to a 1-0 victory over the “Black Stars” team.

Salah’s second goal came in the African Nations in the semi-finals of the same competition, when he scored the only goal for the Egyptian national team during their 1-1 draw with the Burkina Faso national team, via a missile shot, before the two teams eventually resorted to penalty kicks, which ultimately smiled for the Egyptians.

As for the third goal, it was in the 2019 tournament, which Egypt hosted against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leading the team to a 2-0 victory in the group stage, which also witnessed another goal from the same player, as his country won by the same score over the Ugandan team.

Salah continued to score in the 2021 edition in Cameroon, when he scored Egypt’s only goal during their 1-0 win over Guinea Bissau in the group stage, then he returned to score against Morocco in the quarter-finals, following up on a corner kick taken by his teammate Omar Marmoush.

Salah was content with scoring a single goal in the last edition, which was held in Côte d’Ivoire, where he scored a penalty kick in Egypt’s 2-2 draw with Mozambique, before he suffered an injury and traveled to England for treatment during the tournament.

(The Egyptian Pharaoh) shone with his country’s national team in the current edition of the African Nations, after scoring three goals so far, which is the first time he has reached this number, after he visited the goal of the Zimbabwe and South Africa teams in the first round, then the Benin national team.

Salah, who led his country to the World Cup in 2018 and 2026, hopes to score more goals with the Egyptian national team in the African Nations, hoping to win its first title in the tournament, after he was close to holding the cup in 2017 and 2021, had the team not lost in the final match to Cameroon and Senegal, respectively.

It is noteworthy that Salah currently occupies third place on the list of historical scorers for the Egyptian national team in the Nations of Africa, two goals behind the late star Hassan El Shazly, and one goal behind Hossam Hassan, the current coach of the team, who is in second place on the list.