Mohamed Salah made Sadio Mane 'really, really angry' as Liverpool tensions spilled over

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will meet once again at AFCON today, with the pair having excelled at Anfield despite their differences under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane embrace after the FA Cup final in May 2022.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane didn't always see eye to eye at Liverpool, even though they, alongside Roberto Firmino, formed one of the most feared front threes the game has ever seen.

And later today, in the semi-finals at AFCON, they will go head-to-head once again as the leaders of their national teams. Egypt will take on Senegal with the winner reaching the final in Morocco.

In 2022, Egypt lost twice to Senegal — in the AFCON final and then in a play-off to reach the World Cup in Qatar. Salah has not won AFCON yet and it could elevate his standing to another level. Against The Lions, however, he will face a very tough test.

"[Salah is a] great player. Good player. Great player," Mane told Rio Ferdinand's podcast in 2025. "Everybody says the same, you know, usually. But it's not... I don't think it's a bad thing.

"Me, I'm someone who is quiet, but I'm friendly with everybody in the team. I'm like this. So I think Mo is also a very nice guy.

"I think, though, inside the pitch, you can see sometimes he passes to me, sometimes he doesn't pass to me. But, you know, only Bobby was there to share the ball. Sometimes [it was] like this..."

Liverpool's game against Burnley in 2019 saw Mane publicly fume with Salah — and a famous image of Firmino in the tunnel emerge — with James Milner the peacemaker.

Roberto Firmino's reaction to the Mane-Salah row at Burnley said a lot about the mentality within the Liverpool squad(Image: )

"I still remember one game when I was really, really angry because he didn't pass me, he should pass to me," Mane said, recalling that trip to Turf Moor.

"I was really, really angry after the game. And the next day, he came to me. He wants to talk to me, but he doesn’t know when, how to say. He still thinks I'm angry against him because we didn't see each other, we went home.

"The next day, he came to me. He said: 'Can we talk?' and I said: 'OK, no problem, we go.' And he said: 'You think I didn't want to pass you? I didn’t score, Bobby scored. But even when I got the ball, I was not thinking or even seeing you to pass. I just got the ball, I want to shoot. But I have nothing against you and honestly, if I could pass you and I saw you, I will do'.

"And this, you know... I said, 'No, don't worry. It passed, it passed'. I was angry because I think you could pass me more with your quality.'

"I think since this day we have become even closer. And sometimes it happens, but we just... as a striker, usually when you see the ball, you don’t see nobody. So for me, he didn't do it personally.

"He just wants to score, score, score. And then I was talking: 'Mo, I can see you want to be more... I can help you a lot because I know you want to be top scorer.

"You want... I'm here. I can help you because I don't have this problem. Me, I'll help you more."