Dubai – Masaader News
Mohamed Salah said: “I’m happy at Liverpool, I’m happy in the city — I love the fans and they love me. I’m happy at the club.”, Mohamed Salah said that to CNN’s Becky Anderson in an exclusive interview.
Mo Salah, a Champions League winner with Liverpool, a Premier League and international superstar and a hero to millions across the world, Salah’s popularity continues to soar. So much so that this year he was one of six TIME 100 cover stars, the magazine’s annual list of the world’s most influential people.
Though hugely critical of the EFA and its perceived failings, the 27-year-old Salah says the opportunity to inspire future generations to play for their country remains at the heart of his ambition.
“I love this country from my heart,” Salah said of Egypt. “It’s always in my mind. Something pushed me forward to perform, to be iconic for the kids, to be like a dream for the kids to one day be like me.
“I want to be that person, so to just retire from the national team is huge for me.”
He accused the EFA of being in “competition” with him, hitting out at the lack of security afforded to players at the team hotel, while claiming grievances taken to the governing body were ignored.
Though critical of the EFA, Salah accepts that the players, too, have to take some responsibility for the team’s failure at AFCON.
He believes the pressure of being the host nation and fans’ expectations proved difficult to cope with.
“It’s too much pressure, 80,000 in the stadium I think or 70,000, for each game,” Salah said.
“The players feel the pressure and we didn’t perform at the top level, honestly. So I’m not talking about the player and hiding myself, but as a team we didn’t perform good.”
While Salah remains committed to the Egyptian national team, he wants to see changes when a new president of the EFA is eventually appointed.
“The one who is coming now needs to be honest with himself and try to fix the thing because as a player in the national team, they’re not happy about a lot of things,” he added.