Manchester United youngster Hannibal Mejbri appeared to mock Mo Salah’s goal celebration as Tunisia beat Egypt in a friendly on Tuesday night.
The visitors won 3-1 in Cairo, courtesy of an early strike from Aïssa Laïdouni followed by an Hamdi Fathi own goal. Egypt pulled a goal back through Omar Kamal in the first half, before Hamza Rafia sealed Tunisia’s win deep into injury time.
The goal sparked wild celebrations from Tunisia players, with Hannibal joining Rafia in mimicking the yoga pose Salah adopts after scoring.
The Liverpool striker celebrates by standing in front of the fans with his left leg raised to the knee on his right leg and his hands clasped together in prayer.
The pose is known as ‘the tree’ in yoga and signifies balance and grounding.
Hannibal Mejbri (left) appeared to mock Mo Salah’s goal celebration as Tunisia beat Egypt
Salah (right) could only watch as Hannibal and his teammates celebrated
Salah played the whole 90 minutes on Tuesday night but was largely kept quiet by the Tunisia defence, while Hannibal won his 26th cap for Tunisia as he came off the bench with just under 10 minutes left.
The 20-year-old started on Thursday night as the Eagles of Carthage beat Botswana 3-0 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier to finish level with Equatorial Guinea at the top of Group J with 13 points in six games.
Egypt, meanwhile, beat Ethiopia 1-0 on Friday and topped Group A with 15 points out of a possible 18.
Both teams had already qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins in Ivory Coast in January.
The Liverpool striker has made ‘the tree’ yoga pose one of his favourite celebrations
There seemed to be no ill-feelings between the two at the final whistle in Cairo
Hannibal made 41 appearances in all competitions as he spent last season on loan to Birmingham and featured prominently for United in pre-season this summer.
The Tunisian was an unused substitute for the 3-1 defeat away at Arsenal before the international break, but his opportunities at Old Trafford appear limited with Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Erik ten Hag, however, appears determined to keep Hannibal at Old Trafford and the Manchester Evening News reported this week that United rejected a loan offer from Besiktas for the 20-year-old.
