Felt like humiliation : Egypt rallies behind Mo Salah after explosive Liverpool row
Egypt has closed ranks around Mohamed Salah after his fiery Liverpool interview sparked fury back home and debate across Britain. When the Reds star said he felt he’d been “thrown under the bus” earlier this month, it landed like a bombshell in Cairo.
Put simply, this is not just another footballer. Egypt has around 120 million people. Cairo alone has more than 20 million. Liverpool, by comparison, doesn’t even touch a million. When Salah speaks, the country listens – and this time they reacted with anger and pride mixed together.
“This interview was like a revolution in Egypt,” said Diaa El-Sayed, former Egypt assistant coach and someone who has known Salah since he was a teenager. “Ninety-nine per cent of Egypt supports Salah. You could see at Anfield the Liverpool fans support him too.”
Back in England, the mood was very different. Salah took heavy criticism for airing his frustrations in public, with Jamie Carragher calling the interview a “disgrace”. Others said the 33-year-old should have kept it behind closed doors. In Cairo, though, the Egyptian King can do no wrong.
“Before Salah, no-one supported Liverpool here,” said local fan Noura Essam. “He gave us a global figure. So we will always stand with him.” This is the same country where more than a million people once wrote Salah’s name on a presidential ballot. Around here, he’s known as the “Fourth Pyramid”.
The disbelief was clear when Salah was benched for three straight games by Arne Slot, then left out altogether for the Champions League trip to Inter Milan. “When Liverpool played in Milan, all of Egypt supported Inter,” said former Egyptian FA spokesman Osama Ismail, who insists Salah still wants to stay at Anfield.
At the Cairo International Stadium, where Egypt beat Nigeria 2-1 in a friendly before heading to the Africa Cup of Nations, the message was simple: back our son. Sports minister Ashraf Sobhy was there to greet Salah on arrival, while journalists described the reaction as emotional rather than political.
“It felt like a humiliation for one of our family,” said Cairo-based reporter Ahmed Gamal Ali. “Seeing him hurting shocked people. Whether he was right or wrong doesn’t really matter here. Players like Salah and Ronaldo think this way.”
Inside the Egypt camp, nobody is worried about their captain. Staff say he is a model pro, obsessed with winning, and still the heartbeat of the team. Head coach Hossam Hassan has already sat down with him, knowing Egypt will need Salah firing if they’re to end a long wait for an Afcon title.
So what next for Salah and Liverpool? Slot insisted before his departure for Afcon that there was “no issue to resolve”, while team-mates said they want him to stay. Talks will continue while he’s away, handled by agent Ramy Abbas, but the feeling is this saga isn’t finished yet.
Salah’s contract runs until 2027 and is worth around £400,000 a week, but Saudi clubs are circling. Neither side wants a January split, though a summer move could suit everyone. For the first time, the love affair between Salah and Liverpool looks fragile.
Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton, where Salah came on as a first-half sub, showed he is still adored on Merseyside. In Cairo, the support is unconditional. Egypt are not Afcon favourites, but with Salah, belief comes naturally. As one fan put it: “He wants to prove he’s still the best. We already know he is.”