Danny Murphy says Mo Salah allowed his ego to take over in AFCON final
Danny Murphy says Egypt superstar Mo Salah ‘allowed his ego to take over’ with decision to take fifth penalty in AFCON final defeat by Senegal… as he claims he was thinking about his own interests ahead of the team
- Mohamed Salah didn’t get to take a penalty in Egypt’s AFCON final defeat
- The forward was due to take the fifth penalty in the shoot-out against Senegal
- Danny Murphy has questioned the Liverpool stars ‘ego’ for his penalty decision
- Fans have backed the 29-year-old as Sadio Mane also waited for the last penalty
Danny Murphy has claimed the ego of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah got the better of him as he failed to take a penalty as Egypt suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat to Senegal in the final of AFCON.
The 29-year-old was due to take the fifth penalty for Egypt, but Mohamed Abdelmonem blasted his effort from 12 yards against the post and Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy saved from substitute Mohanad Lasheen.
Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane stepped up to seal a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory for Senegal – meaning Salah missed the chance to help his nation become champions.
Danny Murphy has questioned the ego of Mohamed Salah as he failed to take a penalty for Egypt in AFCON final
Salah was due to take the fifth penalty for Egypt, but the shoot-out didn’t reach that stage
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher described the decision for Salah to take the fifth penalty in the shootout as ‘madness’, comparing it to Euro 2012, when Cristiano Ronaldo was scheduled to take the fifth penalty for Portugal in a shootout against Spain, only for centre-back Bruno Alves to miss before him anyway.
‘I think ego takes over when you want to take the fifth,’ Murphy said on TalkSport. ‘Instead of thinking, ‘what is best for the team?’
‘I don’t think you should ever take the fifth. I remember what Carra is talking about when Ronaldo missed out.’
Danny Murphy agreed with Jamie Carragher that Salah taking the fifth penalty was ‘madness’
He added: ‘I’ve heard people come on the show, who have written books about taking penalties and have done podcasts on taking penalties.
‘None of them have taken penalties in big games and understood it. Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanence so if you’re practicing the right thing that’s fine.
‘But you can’t recreate pressure, it is impossible and you can’t recreate what the keeper is going to do.
‘So did you notice in the final last night, one keeper stayed big and strong and central and then he went? (Edouard) Mendy went up and down the line, which is a difficult one.
‘So this thing about there being a perfect way or a perfect preparation, you can cover certain aspects but there are some you can’t.
‘Ultimately, I think if you go up to take a penalty in a positive frame of mind and you are not worried about repercussions.
‘Your best penalty taker shouldn’t be fifth – that I do agree on. So many times you don’t get a fifth penalty.’
Fans have backed Salah’s decision to want to take the fifth penalty as it worked in previous rounds
Another fan also said Salah made the same decision as Senegal forward Sadio Mane
One football fan @rosssstark31 replied on Twitter: ‘Egypt won two penalty shouts outs before the final and did not miss one. Salah took the last penalty each time.
‘Each player taking them was confident, therefore so what if salah was last to take one in the final.’
Another fan added: ‘But even Mane came last, just that Egypt had already missed, the first and last penalty are taken by players with the most confidence.’
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