Senegal's Mane: 'I was luckier' than Liverpool teammate Salah, Egypt were 'difficult'

Senegal forward Sadio Mane has said he was lucky to come out on top of Egypt’s Mohamed Salah.

Mane fired the Teranga Lions to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar when he scored the last spot-kick for his side as the winner of the ticket was decided from the spot on Tuesday.

Salah, Ahmed Sayed Zizo, and Mostafa Mohamed missed their spot-kicks.

Bamba Diang and Ismailia Sarr scored two penalties for Senegal, while Amr El Soleya scored the only one for the Pharaohs.

In Cameroon, Mane and the Teranga Lions came out victorious during the African Cup of Nations final as they defeated Egypt – through the shootouts too.

"I won twice and he lost twice, I was luckier to come out on top," Mane replied when he was asked by ONTime Sports about what he would say to Salah, as reported by KingFut.

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

The former Southampton star reflected on the importance of their qualification journey.

"I believe it was a difficult game for both teams," he added.

"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."

After going down in the first leg in Cairo last Friday, the West Africans took an early lead in Dakar on Tuesday before they emerged victorious, eventually, from the spot-kicks after the game had ended on a 1-1 aggregate at full-time and extra time.

The African champions will represent the continent in Qatar as they join Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, and Cameroon, who clinched the other qualification tickets.

Nigeria, Mali, DR Congo, and Algeria were all eliminated in the final qualification round.