Mohamed Salah and Egypt players targeted with lasers before penalty shootout defeat

Mohamed Salah and his Egypt teammates were targeted with lasers during their tense penalty shootout against Senegal in the 2022 World Cup qualifier match.

Throughout the second-leg match at Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Senegal, Egypt players were marked by green-coloured lasers being constantly shone by home supporters as they played. Senegal players also had the same problem in the first leg in Cairo last week, The Independent reported.

In their last meeting, Egypt heartbreakingly lost out to Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final in February when the match went to penalties, with Sadio Mane scoring the winner - and in this 2022 World Cup qualifying match, the score was tied 1-1 on aggregate after extra time and so once again the two teams faced yet another tense penalty shootout.

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When it was time for Salah to take his penalty, viewers saw that the Liverpool player had bright green-coloured lasers pointed on his face and body as he composed himself to take the kick.

The lasers remained on the Egypt captain as he took the penalty which flew over the bar, with Egypt eventually losing out to Senegal 3-1.

Ultimately, history repeated itself as it was Salah's Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane who scored the winner from the spot, sending Senegal into the 2022 Qatar World Cup and they will be joined by four other African teams: Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and Cameroon who also qualified for the tournament.

The Egyptian FA has since claimed the team were victims of racism during the match, saying the crowd threw bottles and rocks at the player during their warm-up and the team's bus was attacked with rocks and bottles before the match.

It said in a statement: "The Egypt national team have been exposed to racism with offensive signs in the stands against the Egyptian players in general, and Mohamed Salah in particular.

“The crowd also intimidated the players by throwing bottles and rocks on them during the warm-up. The Egyptian group’s busses have also been exposed to assaults that led to broken windows and injuries; filed with pictures and videos as proof in the complaint submitted.”

FIFA has said it is analysing reports from the game before deciding what steps should be taken, BBC Sports reported.

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