Senegal 'attack' on Salah prompts Egypt to make extraordinary World Cup play-off replay request

Senegal's "attack" on Mohamed Salah has prompted Egypt to make an extraordinary request to replay their World Cup qualification play-off.

Egypt missed out on a place at Qatar 2022 after losing on penalties to Senegal in their play-off tie, just over a month after being beaten in the same fashion by the Lions in the Afcon final.

However, the second leg was overshadowed by the actions of a number of the home supporters before, during and after the game, with Salah receiving the brunt of the abuse.

What happened?

Egypt's team bus was left with a smashed windscreen after fans threw objects at the vehicle before its arrival at Senegal's new 50,000 capacity stadium.

Salah, meanwhile, was targeted by lasers from the stands as he stepped up to take his decisive penalty in the shootout, which he ultimately blazed over the bar.

The Liverpool star was also pelted with objects while being escorted off the pitch by security and the Egyptian football association claimed that racist banners had been held up in a subsequent statement confirming that they had filed a complaint to FIFA.

Egypt call for a replay

Gamal Allam, the head of the Egyptian FA, has now revealed that their complaint included a request to replay the match.

"Hani Abu Rida, Hassan Mustafa and the Egyptian officials in the African and International Federations must intervene to support the Egyptian team," Allam said, as quoted by Youm7 Sport.

“I am on my way to Qatar to attend the FIFA Congress on Thursday afternoon. We asked to meet FIFA President Gianni Infantino as well as Patrice Motsepe, President of the Confederation of African Football. 

"We asked for a replay of the match because the match was held in a strange atmosphere, and if we had lost in normal circumstances, we would have congratulated Senegal.

"We will present what happened to the disciplinary committee in the Federation and await a response. There are many things that happened with us in the match. Our players were attacked.

"Mohamed Salah had the most share of the Senegalese fans' attack on him, which tried to intimidate the players as well, and we asked that the board of directors be on the bench of the match but they refused."

Carlos Queiroz resigned as Egypt head coach after the game, but Allam says his future remains up in the air until a final decision is made on whether the result stands or not.

"If it is decided to replay the Senegal match, there will be no room to talk about Queiroz's position until the match ends, and we will resolve his position if the match is not repeated," the Egypt chief added.

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