When Mohamed Salah leads out Egypt in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) semi-final against Senegal, he will feel both the weight of expectation from his nation and his own personal pressure to deliver a place in the final.
The North Africans are record seven-time continental champions but the most recent of those successes came in 2010, a year before the Liverpool forward’s international debut.
The 33-year-old was a losing finalist at the 2017 and 2021 editions – with those defeats sandwiching a last-16 exit in 2019 on home soil – and he was then injured as Egypt suffered an early exit at the 2023 finals.
“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” Salah said after helping his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals.
“I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”
The prospect of revenge will also hang heavy in the Tangier air on Wednesday (17:00 GMT) as the Pharaohs captain will come up against former Reds team-mate Sadio Mane, who got the better of Salah on two of their past three international meetings.
With both players aged 33, and Afcon to become a quadrennial tournament from 2028, this could prove to be Salah’s last chance to bring the trophy back to Cairo after several disappointments.
And, for all his silverware with Liverpool and personal honours, the feeling persists among many across Africa that a player cannot be classed as truly great until they have an Afcon title to their name.