Marwan Attia, the Egyptian national team and Al-Ahly player, stressed Mohamed Salah's humility, the team captain.
Marwan Attia
Club: Al-Ahly
Marwan Attia participated in the Egyptian national team's reaching the round of 16 in the 2026 World Cup.
Attia said via MBC Egypt 2 channel: "We feel happy, but we wanted to make the people even happier; after the match against Argentina, we remained without any talk due to the sadness in the dressing room".
He continued: "Mohamed Salah is a great personality; if you sit with him for just one minute, you will love him, and we were also playing for him so that he would be in a place worthy of him".
He added: "When you talk to Salah, you feel as if you are the professional player, and his humility makes you feel as if he is still with the Arab Contractors".
He went on: "Yasser Ibrahim is one of the best players in the world; he might put his head against the crossbar so that the team does not lose".
He followed: "Every team you play against is different from the other, and that's why sometimes Hossam Hassan changes the style of play according to the opponent".
He said: "I tell the Al-Ahly fans that last season was not good, but we wanted to give our utmost in every match, yet football is win and loss; this is our job—if we fall short in our work, God will not honor us; if we win a title, we as players are the first to benefit and get money, fame, and greater love, and that's why we did not fall short, and we promise them to win all the titles in the next season".
He stressed: "I trained under Hossam Hassan's leadership for two seasons at Al-Ittihad Alexandria, and at that time he was teaching me how to stand and how to move, and his method is well-known, which is why I knew it when he led the national team, and he knows that I spare no effort on the pitch".
He revealed: "I received offers from Zamalek, Pyramids, and Modern before joining Al-Ahly, but the deal was not completed with any of them; after a good performance with Al-Ittihad, I received Al-Ahly's offer to acquire my services, and here I did not consider any other offer, with respect to the rest of the clubs, because I have been an Al-Ahly fan since childhood, and my father suffered strokes and diabetes because of Al-Ahly".
He added: "Many people advised me to join any team other than Al-Ahly because it had many players in midfield, but I had already made my decision and said that having the Al-Ahly club player after my name is enough even if I don't play; indeed I joined, and Marcel Koller helped me a lot and got me into the atmosphere, and after that I became a key element in the team and in the national team".
Egypt reached the round of 16 in the World Cup for the first time in history before being eliminated from the tournament after losing to Argentina three goals to two.
