Arsenal midfielder, Mohamed Elneny, has opened up on losing the African Cup of Nations final to Senegal on penalties.
The Egyptian star was a key member of his country’s team in the competition and played well as they reached the final of the continental showpiece.
Egypt had not been favourite to reach the final after losing their first game and managing to reach the knockout stages.
But they proved too hard to beat at that stage of the competition and eliminated the likes of Ivory Coast and Cameroon on penalties after extra time to get to the final.
In the final, they and Senegal could not be separated after 120 minutes and needed another penalty shootout.
The Senegalese won the competition with Elneny and the likes of Mohamed Salah settling for another runner-up medal in the competition.
Elneny admits it hurts to have lost the title in such a manner, but he insists penalties could go either way.
He told the Arsenal Media: “Of course it makes me sad when I remember this game, we gave everything. We got to penalties as well, but we know penalties is just in the hands of the gods. No one knows what is going to happen with penalties.
“When we saw the fans when we got back to Egypt, when I listened to my family, I saw how proud they are of us. This makes us [feel] a little bit nice inside because we were broken after the game.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Elneny has been one of Arsenal’s finest squad members and keeps performing well when he is asked to fill in for a regular in the team.
He did well in the competition, and it would have delighted us if he won it.
Now he needs to focus on helping Arsenal end this season well.
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Poor mo !!