Afcon 2021: Salah calls on Egypt fans to support national team and not a specific player

Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has called on their fans to support the entire team and not specific players at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

The 29-year-old, who features for Liverpool in the Premier League, has been under the spotlight since theBcompetition kicked off on January 9, as he has only managed one goal from the opening three matches.

Salah feels the spotlight being directed at him by fans and the media should also be directed to other players in the national team, insisting Egyptian football is currently divided and could get worse in the future.

“I’m 100% happy with the players and I don’t think I spoke badly about anyone or vice versa. I try as much as possible to pass on the experience that I got playing abroad and help the national team,” Salah told reporters ahead of Egypt’s Round of 16 clash against Ivory Coast on Wednesday.

“I feel that sometimes there are those who are waiting for any excuse to talk about Salah or other players, unfortunately, we live in the era of social media and the national team’s popularity has decreased. People support clubs and fans support players.

“It was not like that before and Egyptian football is now divided. We saw pages created for specific players or clubs, made only to defend them. They think that this is a good thing, but it is not.

“It’s definitely not helpful, you won’t hurt Mohamed Salah because I’ve been through things like that, but it will definitely hurt younger players.

“I don’t come to the national team in order to harass someone or to speak to anyone in a press conference. I have one piece of advice, if you think that I have succeeded abroad, don’t support a particular player or a particular club, for example, Al Ahly fans don’t only talk about Al Ahly players or Zamalek fans don’t only talk about their players.”