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DOUALA. —  Mohamed Salah insists he is desperate to lead Egypt to glory at the African Cup of Nations because winning a trophy for his country would be closest to his heart.

Salah fired home the winning penalty in their last-16 shoot-out victory over Cote d’Ivoire on Wednesday night, which saw Manchester United defender Eric Bailly miss the decisive spot-kick for the Elephants.

Now Egypt will turn their attention to Sunday’s quarter-final showdown against Morocco, with a place against Burkina Faso or Tunisia in the last four to come for the winner.

Pharaohs captain, Salah, has inspired Liverpool to English Premier League and Champions League titles in recent years, but he is yet to taste success with his national side.

And after his penalty heroics against Cote d’Ivoire, the 29-year-old declared his intention to change that.

‘’Of course, I want to win something with the national team,’’ he said. ‘’It’s my country, what I love the most.

‘’This trophy for me would be completely different, would be the closest to my heart.

‘’We were close before to win this African Cup (in 2017), we gave it everything but we were not lucky to win it.

‘’But it’s ok, now we are here in the new one. We have to fight for it, we have to give everything to win it and I’m sure the players have the same feeling.

‘’So hopefully we just need to focus on tomorrow’s game and we go from there.’’

Equatorial Guinea also booked their place in the quarter-final on Wednesday by producing a shock penalty shoot-out win over Mali, setting up a clash with Senegal on Sunday night.

Gambia and Cameroon will contest the other last-eight battle after beating Guinea and Comoros respectively.

On Wednesday night, Salah scored the decisive spot-kick as record seven-time champions Egypt beat Cote d’Ivoire 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in Douala to reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.

The Liverpool star smashed home his penalty, with Cote d’Ivoire’s Bailly the only player to fail from the spot. Egypt go on to play Morocco in the last eight in Yaounde on Sunday. — AFP.