Mo Salah vs Vincent Aboubakar: Egypt hero gets last laugh over Cameroon captain at AFCoN

Mohamed Salah had the last laugh over Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar as Egypt booked their place in this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations final.

After a gruelling 120 minutes of football, the semi-final was eventually decided on penalties.

Aboubakar, who’d been critical of Salah in the build-up to this match, successfully converted the first spot-kick. However, Cameroon’s next three penalties were all missed, which allowed Egypt to set-up a mouth-watering final against Senegal this weekend.

With six goals, Aboubakar is likely to finish as the tournament’s leading goalscorer.

But eyebrow-raising comments he made about Salah in the build-up to the semi-finals came back to haunt him.

“He doesn’t impress me much” Aboubakar told Than24, per the Daily Mail. “I say it clearly because I’m an honest person and I have my way of seeing things. 

“If he impressed me, I would say so. But he doesn’t impress me much. 

“He’s a good player, he scores a lot but he doesn’t produce a lot of stuff in the game.”

The 30-year-old striker, who plies his trade at club level for Saudi Arabian outfit Al Nassr, added: “Of course, he’s doing good stuff in the Premier League because he’s been in a team that’s been there for years. He’s a good player but not at the level of some like (Kylian) Mbappe.”

These critical comments felt wholly unnecessary, not to mention risky.

Salah and his teammates wouldn’t have required further motivation to beat Cameroon and seal their place in the final, but Aboubakar may well have provided some.

Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar doesn't believe the Mo Salah hype