Jamie Carragher has drawn a comparison between Mohamed Salah's Africa Cup of Nations heartbreak and a similar incident involving Cristiano Ronaldo.
Salah's Egypt were beaten on penalties by Senegal in Sunday's AFCON final after nail-biting encounter in Cameroon on Sunday.
Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane scored the winning spot kick to make it 4-2 in the shootout, meaning Salah, who was designated to take Egypt's fifth penalty, did not take one.
Carragher criticised that decision, comparing it with the time Ronaldo did not take one in the semi-finals at Euro 2012 as Portugal went crashing out to Spain.
He tweeted: "That is why your best penalty taker should never go fifth.
"Mo Salah not taking a penalty for Egypt in a shootout in a final is madness.
"Also happened to Ronaldo years ago for Portugal v Spain. #AFCON2021 #SENEGY."
Ronaldo's former United and Portugal team-mate Nani explained shortly after why he was down to take the last penalty, instead of taking one earlier.
"I don’t think there was any controversy or any mistakes," he said.
Should Salah have taken a penalty earlier in the shootout? Comment down below
"Cristiano demanded the last penalty. I said to the coach I would accept any order.
"It didn’t seem to be a problem to me, because penalty shoot-outs are all about luck and we did not deserve to lose like that."
Roy Keane has warned Liverpool they have to get Mohamed Salah's contract "done and dusted" or risk losing one of the world's "greatest players".
The Egyptian forward is into the final 18 months of his Liverpool contract with talks continuing to drag on with no real end in sight due to the strict wage structure with players nearing or over 30 at Anfield.
But Keane feels any concerns about Salah's longevity in the sport are not an issue as he urged the Reds to sort the contract before it's too late.
"He’s 29 but the modern player, they’re machines I don’t think it’s no issue. From Liverpool’s point of view it’s business they’ve got to try and negotiate," the pundit told ITV.
"You’ve got to get him signed on, he’s one of the greatest players in the world, you’ve got to get it done. If it goes into next season you really start to worry but try and get it done and dusted.
"They might not have a choice, it’s up to the player, the player’s in charge he said he’s happy and he’s obviously going to try and negotiate a bit of steel but he’s going to to get a lot of money anyway.
"It might be does he want a new experience. But he’s said a number of times he’s happy here he’s loved here but Liverpool have got to try and get him signed you can’t just let players like that go out of the door, particularly on a free."
Salah has persistently insisted the ball is in Liverpool's court and he wants to sign a new deal but it appears the club's hierarchy are not bowing to his demands.
