Liverpool's Mo Salah gets Moamen Zakaria involved in FA Cup celebrations
Mohamed Salah was loving the celebrations as Liverpool won the FA Cup on Saturday.
For the second time this season, the Reds won a major domestic honour at Wembley Stadium via a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of goalless football against Chelsea. Yeh, seriously.
Liverpool eventually kept their quadruple dreams alive when Alisson Becker denied Mason Mount from 12 yards and Konstantinos Tsimikas duly smashed home the deciding spot-kick.
Salah celebrates FA Cup glory
The only downside for Salah is that he wasn’t on the pitch to make his own stamp on the shootout and that wasn’t because Jurgen Klopp had substituted him for tactical reasons.
Rather, the Ballon d’Or contender was forced off with an injury during the first-half having gone to ground, and the extent of the crock has yet to be established.
According to the Express, Klopp told ITV after the game: “Mo is a bit more than Virg. Virg had little problems across the 120 minutes. Mo came and I had to make a decision.
“He said, ‘I could carry on, but I felt a little bit.’ So I took him off. We have the squad. I hope he will be fine.”
Salah gets Zakaria involved
However, whatever it is that forced Salah to watch Liverpool win world football’s oldest cup competitions from the sidelines, it certainly didn’t prevent him from lapping up the victory.
That’s because Salah made more than a few appearances in the celebratory footage that always does the rounds after trophy triumphs from the pitch to the tunnel to the dressing room.
But there was a particularly special element to Salah’s celebrations this time around because he was joined by former Egypt teammate Moamen Zakaria, as confirmed by Egypt’s most popular sports website FilGoal.
Heartwarming footage emerges
Salah uploaded a photograph and video to his Instagram story after the final whistle that showed Zakaria joining in the festivities with the Reds squad as they danced around the dressing room.
Zakaria was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) back in 2019 and hasn’t made an official appearance in three and a half years.
Nevertheless, the 34-year-old could be seen having a wonderful time with his compatriot and the wider Liverpool squad as he was pushed around in his wheelchair with music blaring out.
Marry that to getting his hands on the FA Cup trophy himself and no doubt it made for a moment that the former Al Ahly star – who boasts 12 caps for his country – will never forget.
مؤمن زكريا في احتفالات ليفربول بكأس إنجلترا في غرفة الملابس بملعب ويمبلي 😍
— FilGoal (@FilGoal) May 14, 2022
MOSALAH/IG pic.twitter.com/DwYA7iCQ94
Mo Salah and Liverpool celebrating their FA Cup win with Egyptian footballer Moamen Zakaria, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2020.
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 14, 2022
The beautiful game ❤️ pic.twitter.com/lkQEvhAH23
The beautiful game, folks.
A special moment for Zakaria
All in all, it made for heartwarming footage that added an extra layer of emotion to Liverpool’s triumph and no doubt Zakaria was incredibly thankful of Salah for allowing him to get involved.
Zakaria had played for El Entag El Harby, Al Masry, ENPPI, Zamalek, Al Ahly, Al Ahli Saudi FC and Ohod Club across an impressive career that was sadly cut short.
The attacking midfielder won the Egyptian Premier League in 2015, 2016 and 2017 as well as securing the Egyptian Cup three times and the Egyptian Super Cup on two further occasions.
He was also invited to lift the CAF Champions League trophy alongside Mohamed El-Shennawy when Al Ahly won their ninth continental crown in 2020.
We send our best wishes to Zakaria as he combats his condition.