The Pharaohs of Egypt would take on the Teranga Lions of Senegal in the first semi-final game of the 2025 AFCON. With the AFCON 2025 just three games away from its clincher, today’s match re-awakens a decade-long argument: Salah or Mane – who is better? Beneath the Salah-Mané argument, a bigger rivalry, one which has become the continent’s fiercest in the distant past and foreseeable future, has the glitz and glam to be called the “El Clásico of AFCON”.
Before this, rivalry was forged recently; events in Liverpool Football Club in England had sown the seeds. After exhilarating displays on both flanks of a legendary trio of Sala on the left wing, Firmino in the centre and Mane on the right wing, the natural and innate inclination to compare the two African superstars by even doting and adoring Liverpool fans was nothing short of overwhelming.
So overwhelming to the fact that when fate finally brought Salah and Mané against each other in the AFCON final, even Liverpool fans had to take an entrenched position in Camp Salah and/or Camp Mané. Their national team contest , the gravitas of the match and the prize at stake were almost an afterthought. It was actually the battle for supremacy.
Sadio vs Mane, with the AFCON title as the clincher to settle all doubt once and for all. In the end, Mane and his colleague lions of Teranga outroared even the Pharaoh in all his glory. Goals, assists and who had won more became an afterthought Many people may have thought the matter had died a natural and painful death till the 2022 World Cup playoffs came calling. It was Mane and Salah all over again; the rivalry had been rekindled, and one camp would invariably. Over two legs, the Teranga Lions outroared the Pharaohs again by throwing a giant monkey wrench into their qualification campaign. They battered the Pharaohs and took their spot at the World Cup ending with a round of 16 loss to England
Today, the Teranga Lions come up against the Pharaohs in recent memory. Camp Salah and Camp Mane would do battle in the semi-final of the AFCON 2025 again. It’s Mané vs Salah for the bookmakers, the connoisseurs, the pundits and the long-suffering fans of either camp.
TERANGA LIONS VS THE PHARAOHS – HEAD TO HEAD
| Category | Egypt | Senegal |
|---|---|---|
| Total Wins | 7 | 6 |
| Draws | 3 | 3 |
| AFCON Wins | 2 | 3 |
| Total Goals | 9 | 8 |
- 2025 (Semi-final): Senegal 1–0 Egypt
- 2021 (Final): Senegal 0–0 Egypt (Senegal won 4–2 on penalties)
- 2006 (Semi-final): Egypt 2–1 Senegal
- 2002 (Group Stage): Senegal 1–0 Egypt
- 2000 (Group Stage): Egypt 1–0 Senegal
- 1986 (Group Stage): Senegal 1–0 Egypt
- Mohamed Salah has faced Senegal 6 times and has yet to score a goal against them.
- Sadio Mane has faced Egypt 6 times, scoring 2 goals (including the 2026 semi-final winner) and securing 4 wins.
