Punter misses out on thousands after 'unluckiest bet ever' at AFCON

An unlucky punter has missed out on thousands after Egypt striker Mostafa Mohamed avoided a booking for taking off his shirt in their Africa Cup of Nations clash against Cape Verde.

Egypt scraped through to the last 16 on Monday thanks, in part, to Mozambique, who netted twice in injury time against Ghana to send Chris Hughton's side packing.

The Pharaohs, meanwhile, claimed a dramatic 2-2 draw against Group B leaders Cape Verde after Nantes forward Mostafa Mohamed netted in the third-minute of added time.

Cape Verde winger Bryan Silva Teixeira went on to equalise in the 99th minute but a point was enough for Egypt to qualify with three draws in three games.

The nation celebrated a quite remarkable ending to their group stage campaign, although X user @fba_bets was in no mood to toast the victory.

As you can see from the bet slip below, the punter put a £12.50 stake on Mostafa Mohamed to score anytime and to be shown a card.

He did, of course, give Egypt the lead in the 93rd minute and moments later, the bet looked nailed on when he took his shirt off to celebrate.

But it appears referee Hajj bin Muhammad Al-Lahou decided against giving Mohamed a booking for his celebrations as he went over to check the VAR monitor to check whether the ball hit the player's arm.

"Probably the unluckiest I’ve ever been from a bet in my life," the punter said. "[He] only scores and the ref hasn’t booked him for taking his top off."

Probably the unluckiest I’ve ever been from a bet in my life, only scores and the ref hasn’t booked him for taking his top off 😂😂🤦‍♂️ https://t.co/JDZcawQh3m pic.twitter.com/LEkmJ3i7L3

— Football Betting Advice ⚽️🏈 (@fba_bets) January 22, 2024

In others news, Egypt manager Rui Vitoria has criticised Liverpool following the injury to Mohamed Salah, who has now returned to England.

"I want to take this opportunity to clarify things," Vitória told reporters after Monday's full-time whistle.

"Mohamed Salah has an injury, which we learned before this game was a longer-term injury than we first thought, so we have had to prolong the amount of time before he can play again.

"Before the game, we did not want to say anything. Meanwhile, everything was in the control of our excellent medical team. Given we were going to have to travel, given the temperatures, given that we were going to be going to a different city, maybe it makes sense that Salah should have a place he can go to recover as quickly as possible.

"We didn't want to alarm anyone. I didn't think it was right for Liverpool, via any intermediary, to speak about this, because we had a tremendously important game today."

Vitoria added: "Salah has always been with us. Now this game is over we will find the best solution for the treatment of the player. These are the facts. This is the situation."