PreviewMane and Salah set for Africa Cup of Nations showdown

But the question is: Sadio Mane or Mohamed Salah?

The Reds teammates have been key figures in Senegal and Egypt’s respective runs to the tournament’s showpiece and will now go head-to-head as they target international glory.

Here’s everything you need to know about the AFCON final…

When is the game?

Kick-off is 7pm GMT on Sunday February 6, with the tie to be played in Yaounde, Cameroon.

What are the stakes?

Runners-up in the last edition in 2019, Senegal are again one final hurdle away from lifting the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.

Mane and co suffered the heartbreak of a 1-0 defeat against Algeria two-and-a-half years ago and would make history if they go one better on Sunday.

By contrast, Egypt are aiming to further consolidate their status as the most successful nation in the competition’s history with an eighth triumph.

It would be their first AFCON title since 2010, when they achieved a hat-trick. Their last final appearance was a loss to Cameroon in 2017.

How did they get here?

Senegal topped their group during the opening phase without conceding a goal, and then eliminated Cape Verde (2-0), Equatorial Guinea (3-1) and Burkina Faso (3-1) in the knockout rounds.

Mane has provided three goals and two assists during the tournament so far, including a clinically taken finish to wrap up victory in the semi-final on Wednesday.

It has been grittier going at times for the Pharaohs, who finished second in their group and then twice won on penalties in the knockouts, defeating Ivory Coast and hosts Cameroon in shootouts either side of a 2-1 quarter-final win over Morocco.

Salah has netted twice and recorded one assist during Egypt’s journey to the final, as well as holding his nerve to convert the clinching penalty in the last-16 shootout.

What have they said?

“Experience is a good asset. I think that has always been the case since the start of this tournament. We suffered so much with a lot of COVID cases and several injuries too. We had a very difficult time but with our experience we kept calm until we recovered the whole group. We played a final last time, so we have experience and we will try to win this trophy.” ­– Mane

“I always say I would love to win something with my country. Every time I come to the national team I’m proud to wear the shirt, I give my best to the team. Team awards always come first. Hopefully we can do something this time. We do our best to win it; we have a good coach, we have a good team, we have a very good group and they played for the national team for 10 or 11 years now. I know we have a very good team. We give our best and hopefully we win it.” – Salah

How can I watch?

In the UK, the final will be broadcast live on BBC Three, the BBC Sport website and on Sky Sports.

Will the Reds be watching?

Liverpool’s Emirates FA Cup fourth-round clash with Cardiff City will be comfortably done and dusted by the time the AFCON final kicks off.

And Jürgen Klopp, the squad and staff will be watching on with neutral fascination as their teammates face off.

“It will be exciting,” said Klopp. “Now it’s obviously not so easy because we have to watch the game and one will be definitely really happy after it, and the other one much less so. But both have a good chance to achieve something really big.

“It’s difficult obviously to get that far in a tournament, the pressure – they are the superstars so the pressure they had on their shoulders was massive.

“And how they dealt with it, I’m really proud of them, to be honest, and now two of them are in the final and yeah, we will watch it definitely.”