Fans applaud Mo Salah for his heart-warming interaction with child mascots ahead of Egypt's kick-off against Ghana

Fans have reacted to the heart-warming moment mascots smiled with joy after meeting Mohamed Salah.

As Ghana and Egypt players gathered in the tunnel ahead of kick-off at the AFCON tournament, a few lucky mascots were in for a treat.

The Liverpool forward shook the hands of some Ghana players and then took the time to greet the children.

The video shows each of the young mascots with great big smiles on their faces as they try to touch Salah.

Responding to the footage, one fan said: 'The smiles on the children's faces are priceless. I wish that all children across our beautiful continent could feel like this always! Thank you for putting smiles on their precious faces!'

Another wrote on X: 'The kids' reaction is making me smile too much.'

A third added 'this is beautiful', while a fourth similarly said: 'Love this so much.'

During the game, the Egyptian superstar was forced off with an early hamstring injury.

Salah grabbed the back of his left leg following a bursting run and lay on his back receiving treatment.

But, it appears the 31-year-old might not have as bad an injury as we think after he was seen walking out of the stadium smiling.

The Reds are already without a host of players. Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara, Kostas Tsimikas, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Doak and Dominik Szoboszlai are injured. Wataru Endo is at the Asian Cup with Japan.

Egypt needed Salah’s stoppage-time penalty to rescue a point in their opening group game at AFCON against Mozambique.

Liverpool resume their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth on Sunday, before contesting the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Fulham.