Senegal’s Senghor dismisses Egypt’s ‘racist attacks’ allegations: ‘We are known to be very welcoming’

The president of the Senega Football Federation, Augustin Senghor, has dismissed Egypt’s complaints that their players were racially targeted during Tuesday’s World Cup playoff in Dakar.

Although the FA chief said he did not pay attention to the happenings, he was surprised and said the Senegalese people are known to be very welcoming.

"From the stands, I didn't pay attention to the projectiles thrown," Senghor, who is also the vice-president of Caf, said, according to BBC Sports.

"About the lasers, if it happened this is a first in Senegal. But we know that in Cairo there were a lot of these, and [they are used] often in specific countries. Senegal isn't used to that."

"In my opinion, I didn't see during this game anything that could be considered as chauvinism because the Senegalese are known to be very welcoming."

In a complaint, the Egyptian Football Association claimed their players were terrorized and racially attacked.

"The Egyptian Football Association have lodged a formal complaint against its Senegalese counterpart to the match observer, the security official, Caf, and Fifa, before the start of the match between the two teams," the FA said in a statement.

"The Egyptian team was subjected to racism after the appearance of offensive banners in the stands aimed at the players, specifically Mohamed Salah.

"Moreover, the Senegalese fans terrorized the Egyptian players by throwing bottles and stones at them during the warm-up, as well as attacking the Egyptian team bus, which caused glass shattering and some injuries, which were documented with pictures and videos attached to the complaint."

Senegal were backed up by supporters who filled Dakar's newly-built 50,000-seater Stade Me Abdoulaye Wade and went on to beat