Egypt’s veteran right-back Ahmed Fathi has refuted rumours that Liverpool star Mohamed Salah asked for the national team’s captaincy.
Fathi’s last appearance for Egypt came in November of last year when he captained the Pharaohs in a goalless draw against Comoros in the AFCON qualifiers.
A year later after the return of international football since the COVID-19 outbreak in March, Fathi’s name was not included in Egypt’s squad for their qualifiers in November.
As a result, the 36-year-old missed out on Egypt’s recent back-to-back victories against Togo in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers.
He had revealed previously that he refused to give up the national team captaincy, hinting that its the reason for his exclusion from the squad.
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“This issue has been blown out of proportion by the media,” Fathi told CBC. “Mohamed Salah is like a little brother to me.
“A national team official, whose name I will not mention, had asked me to give up the Egypt captaincy and hand it over to Salah.
“But I completely refused the idea and told him ‘why are you creating an unnecessary issue? Would you have done the same if [Mohamed] Abou-Trika or Ahmed Hassan were in my position?’ and he said no.
“And by the way, Mohamed Salah did not ask me for the captain’s armband and never spoke with any official in the national team about the matter,” he added.
Fathi had made his debut for Egypt back in 2002 and has 132 caps so far, representing the Pharaohs in five AFCONs, the 2009 Confederation Cup, and the 2018 World Cup.
