The Africa Cup of Nations begins: Salah to play on Tuesday

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on Saturday in Gabon, with Roma represented by Mohamed Salah.

The Egyptian is a talisman for his side and one of the big-name players on show at the tournament.

The competition features sixteen teams divided into four groups, with a total of 32 games to be played. As well as Salah, there will be 12 other Serie A players competing, namely:

Franck Kessie (Atalanta/Ivory Coast), Saphir Taider (Bologna/Algeria), Djamel Mesbah (Crotone/Algeria), Serge Gakpe (Genoa/Togo), Mehdi Benatia (Juventus /Morocco); Mario Lemina (Juventus/Gabon), Keita Balde (Lazio/Senegal), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli/Senegal); Faouzi Ghoulam (Napoli/Algeria), Afriyie Acquah (Torino/Ghana), Molla Wague (Udinese/Mali) and Emmanuel Badu (Udinese/Ghana).

With the final scheduled for 5 February, the tournament will also feature a whole host of stars from other top European leagues. There will be Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Eric Bailly, Islam Slimani and Wilfried Zaha from the Premier League; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Salomon Kalou from the Bundesliga; as well as Cédric Bakambu and Aymen Abdennour from La Liga.

Roma’s Salah will play in Group D, in matches against Mali, Uganda and Ghana. His first game will be on Tuesday 17 January against Mali, set for 20:00 CET at Port-Gentil.

At the same place and time, Egypt will then face Uganda on 21 January before taking on Ghana four days later.