Pele congratulates Salah for BBC award

CAIRO – 13 December 2017: Brazilian football legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pele, congratulated Liverpool’s Egyptian winger, Mohamed Salah, after Salah received BBC’s African Player of the Year award.

Pele retweeted Salah’s tweet and commented, “It's been an incredible year! Keep going and I look forward to seeing you play on the greatest stage next year – the World Cup.”

Parabéns, @22MoSalah! It's been an incredible year! Keep going and I look forward to seeing you play on the greatest stage next year - the World Cup. https://t.co/1QYSqBboM0

— Pelé (@Pele) December 13, 2017

Salah became the third Egyptian to win such an award, after Mohamed Barakat, who won the award in 2005, and Mohamed Aboutrika, who won it in 2008.

Salah had a fantastic year with AS Roma, scoring 10 goals and providing 2 assists to lead the club to finish second in the league and qualify to the UEFA Champions League.

He then left Roma to join Liverpool. The player has shined in the Premier League, scoring 19 goals for the team – 14 of which were in the league – to become the top scorer after 16 fixtures.

Salah led Egypt’s national team to the 2018 World Cup after a 28-year absence. He scored five out of the team’s seven goals scored in the qualifiers.

Many football fans look to Pele as the best player in the history of the game. He led Brazil to win three World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970.