CAIRO — Donning
Liverpool jerseys, Egyptian
soccer fans cheered “Mo Salah! Mo Salah!” even as they struggled to hide their
disappointment over the Reds’ loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League
final.
اضافة اعلان
It was another blow for
Mohamed Salah who was
reduced to tears twice earlier this year following Egypt’s losses to Senegal in
both the African Cup of Nations final and the World Cup play-off.
To rub salt into his wounds Salah missed a penalty
in the penalty shootout defeat to Senegal in the World Cup play-off.
In those matches, Liverpool’s African stars Salah
and the Senegalese Sadio Mane were in opposing camps.
On Saturday, they suffered in defeat together.
“It’s really not the year of Salah,” said Youssef
Mohammed, a 21-year-old accounting student, wearing a Liverpool jersey, at a
Cairo park where a giant screen was installed for the match.
“We had more chances, better ball possession, but
less luck, so in the end, Real Madrid stole the victory from us”, says
37-year-old Khaled Youssef.
Youssef, a leading member of the official Egyptian
Liverpool supporters club, which has 215,000 followers on Facebook, says
supporting the Reds and being Egyptian makes him “the least fortunate fan in
the world.”
Disaster
For many in Egypt, where
public gatherings are effectively prohibited, football offers a rare avenue for
distraction away from daily struggles including a heightened inflation rate
which Moody’s warned could raise instability and social tensions.
On Saturday, fans filled cafes across Cairo,
sporting red scarves, waving flags to the Liverpool anthem of “you’ll never
walk alone” hoping for a victory against the Spanish side.
All prayed, danced, and chanted in the hopes of
another Liverpool win similar to that of the
2019 Champions League when they
beat Tottenham Hotspur.
Salah wished that the “2022 final will be different
from that of 2018,” when he went off injured and Real Madrid beat them 3–1.
“We have a score to settle,” Salah said on social
media moments after Real Madrid set up a re-match with Liverpool.
Heads slumped in Cairo as the referee signaled the
match’s end with Real Madrid winning 1–0.
“It is the latest disaster in a repeat scenario,”
said Amr Said, a 35-year-old engineer who is also a member of Liverpool’s
Official Egyptian Supporters’ Club.
Liverpool was hoping to win their seventh European
Cup which would have been the ideal pick me up a week after they narrowly lost
out to Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Salah and Liverpool will have to be content with
lifting the FA and League Cup.
Salah is still an icon for millions in Egypt where
he is often featured on giant billboards across the capital, Cairo.
He often springs up on TV ads for everything from a
national anti-drug campaign to promotions for soft drinks and luxury
residences.
Despite the disappointment over Salah’s loss,
Egypt is
gearing up for Monday’s African Champions League final pitting Cairo giants
Al-Ahly against Wydad Casablanca.
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