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Egypt international and Arsenal midfielder, Mohamed Elneny, spoke about their journey in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and losing the final.
Elneny reached his second AFCON final, in its latest edition, but once again failed to lift the elusive eighth title.
Elneny started all of Egypt’s seven games, being subbed-off just twice, in what was arguably the national team’s toughest AFCON journey to date.
After a unconvincing group stage, where they lost to Nigeria and finished second, the Pharaohs were drawn against Ivory Coast in the round of 16.
The Elephants were favourites going into the game, given they had finished top of their group and had beaten defending champions Algeria. However, Egypt had the upper hand and managed to snatch a 5-4 on penalties.
They were then up against a star-studded Morocco but still came out victorious 2-1 after playing two extra times. Cameroon was their semi-final opponent, and despite the hosts having the home advantage, Egypt won 3-1 in the penalty shootouts to reach their 10th AFCON final.
Salah and his men had to face Sadio Mane’s Senegal in the final. Despite being physically drained, they managed to hold the Terranga Lions to a draw, to once again reach the penalty shootouts.
Unfortunately, on this occasion, Egypt fell 4-2, to gift Senegal their first-ever continental title.
READ: Elneny reaveals why he refused to take penalty kicks in AFCON
Looking back at the 2021 AFCON, Elneny has bittersweet memories of the tournament.
“The Africa Cup of Nations is always something special, for us and the people in Egypt, for the kids who are waiting for it every two years,” Elneny told Arsenal Media.
“They were really excited, all my team-mates as well – no one had won it one time [personally]. We won the most titles in Africa, we won it seven times. This makes me want to win it at least one time because we reached the final two times but unfortunately we didn’t win.
“I’m really, really proud of my team. [In the knockout stages] we went 120 minutes for three games before the final and this isn’t something I think so many teams can do. There’s no recovery actually, it’s just one day to recover. It’s something I’m really, really proud of my team [for].
“Of course it makes me sad when I remember this game, we gave everything. We got to penalties as well, but we know penalties is just in the hands of god. No one knows what is going to happen with penalties.
“When we saw the fans when we got back to Egypt, when I listened to my family, I saw how proud they are of us. This makes us [feel] a little bit nice inside because we were broken after the game.
“I am really happy to be one of the [best XI]. This shows how hard I work, how hard I work every day in training.
“Of course every day I want to improve myself, in training, in the games, this is what I love every day, to try to improve myself, to be better every day,” he concluded.
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