Gamal Abdel Hamid: Mohamed Salah deserves special treatment, while Hossam Hassan was saved by luck

Former Zamalek and Egypt player Gamal Abdel Hamid has criticised the way Mohamed Salah is treated by the national team, while accusing manager Hossam Hassan of making repeated mistakes and mishandling his public comments.

Speaking on The Defender programme on Al Shams TV, Abdel Hamid said Salah’s status as Egypt captain and one of the world’s leading players meant he should be treated differently.

“Mohamed Salah is a global icon and deserves special treatment. It is not acceptable to say that he was left out for technical reasons,” Abdel Hamid said.

The former Egypt international also objected to comments that appeared to play down Salah’s importance to the team.

“Hossam Hassan cannot say about Mohamed Salah: ‘We have 120 million people and the Egypt national team does not depend on one person,’” he added.

Abdel Hamid then turned his criticism towards Hassan’s management and communication, suggesting the coach had been more successful in footballing matters than in his public statements.

“Hossam Hassan is lucky in football and tactically, but unlucky when it comes to speaking,” he said.

He argued that Hassan should have handled his comments more carefully after the World Cup, particularly when discussing the players and the manager’s own role.

“Hossam should have used the World Cup achievement to take control of his statements. He should have given the players credit for the World Cup and not spoken about himself,” Abdel Hamid said.

In his strongest criticism, Abdel Hamid claimed Hassan had made 70 mistakes but had benefited from fortunate circumstances.

“Hossam Hassan made 70 mistakes and luck helped him. If it had not been for Ibrahim Hassan, Hossam would have made even more mistakes,” he said.

Abdel Hamid concluded by calling for Ibrahim Hassan to represent the national team at media briefings instead of his brother.

“I hope Ibrahim Hassan conducts the press conferences instead of Hossam,” he said.