Mo Salah penalty record after third consecutive shootout miss

Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush both failed from the spot as Egypt were defeated by Nigeria in a penalty shootout in the third place 2025 Africa Cup of Nations play-off.

After 120 minutes of goalless action at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, the bronze medal match had to be decided by a penalty shootout – and Salah came forward first for Egypt.

Salah fired his shot powerfully to the keeper’s left, but it was not close enough to the corner and also at a comfortable height for Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, who made a strong save.

Nwabali, who plays his club football for South African side Chippa United, then thwarted Marmoush with his left foot after the Manchester City forward smashed his effort low and straight through the center of the goal.

Salah’s inability to score in the 120 minutes before Saturday’s shootout also ended his challenge for the AFCON 2025 Golden Boot.

Watch: Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush’s penalties saved in AFCON 2025 shootout

More AFCON penalty heartbreak for Mo Salah

This wasn’t Salah’s first high-profile failure in an AFCON penalty shootout.

The Egyptian icon famously missed the target during the shootout that concluded the AFCON 2021 final. Senegal won the trophy on that occasion, after beating Salah’s Egypt 4-2 on penalties.

Including that final, former Liverpool teammates Salah and Sadio Mane have played each other six times during their illustrious careers.

Mane leads his head-to-head with Salah five wins to one after scoring the winning goal in their most recent encounter as Senegal defeated Egypt 1-0 in the AFCON 2025 semi-final.

Salah’s career penalty record

Salah has been a regular penalty taker for both Egypt and Liverpool for years.

So far during his senior career he has taken 73 penalties and scored 59, giving him a conversion rate of 80.8%.

Of his 14 misses, eight came in matches his team still won – including two against Niger in a 6-0 win for Egypt in 2018.

However, his unconverted penalties also cost Liverpool four Premier League points. Salah missed penalties in 1-0 defeats to Leicester and Bournemouth in 2021 and 2023 respectively. He also missed one in a 2-2 draw against Arsenal during the 2022/2023 season.

Complete list of Salah’s missed penalties

Three penalty shootout misses in a row for Salah

Nine of Salah’s 73 career penalties have come via penalties. He converted six of those nine attempts, but has now failed to score in his last three in a row.

Saturday’s saved try in the AFCON 2025 third-place play-off came 160 days after he fired over the crossbar for Liverpool in a shootout defeat to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

Salah’s previous shootout miss prior to his miscue at Palace also came against Senegal in a 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off, which resulted in Egypt missing out on a place at the 2022 World Cup.

He had never lost a penalty shootout with Egypt, who were involved in three shootouts at AFCON 2021 – although Salah only took a penalty in two of those three as he was the designated fifth taker and two of the shootouts did not go all the way.

Salah’s record in penalty shootouts