Are some Senegal fans willing to use any means to go to the World Cup?
The Senergal prevailed in the capital Dakar with a 3-1 pl in the playoff second leg against Egypt. The team around Liverpool star Sadio Mané (29) lost the first leg 0-1 to the Egyptians around his Premier League team-mate Mohamed Salah (29).
What should have particularly irritated the European viewers on TV and Internet in the dramatic game: For almost the entire game, the fans in the stadium tried to blind the Egyptian players with laser pointers.
The focus is on superstar Salah. As soon as the Egyptian approached the ball, he was attacked by laser pointers. Especially hard before his penalty in the decisive penalty shoot-out, which Salah thundered over the goal at full throttle.
Liverpool colleague Mané did better shortly afterwards and ensured his home country’s acclaimed third place in the finals.
However, whether and how much laser pointer attacks actually distract varies from case to case. Ultimately, they only blind you if you look more or less directly into the device – which is not often the case in football given the distance between the players and the fans in the stands. Even with Salah, it looked on TV as if the attacks would not bother him.
There was a similar case last time in the 2021 European Championship semi-finals England – Denmark (2: 1 aet). At that time, Denmark keeper Schmeichel was lit in the face from the stands before a penalty.
