Liverpool or Egypt, the goals keep coming from Mohamed Salah. He can even afford a penalty miss or two.

Salah scored twice - he also had two penalties saved and two assists on a frenetic night - as Egypt beat Niger 6-0 in African Cup of Nations qualifying on Saturday, a resounding victory that might be enough to ease the Pharaohs’ World Cup heartache.

Egypt lost all three of its games at the World Cup, a miserable campaign compounded by a bitter falling out between Salah and the Egyptian soccer federation.

Salah put that to one side against Niger in Alexandria to help lift Egyptian spirits and lift the team to second in its group behind Tunisia, good enough to qualify for the African Cup next year in Cameroon if it stays there.

Salah was the hero, even after the penalty he earned 60 seconds in and took himself was saved by Niger goalkeeper Kassaly Daouda. Salah saw his second spot kick also blocked by Daouda later in the first half but this time he reacted quickly to hammer the rebound home. That made it 3-0.

Before that, Salah had already set up Marwan Mohsen for the opener in the 13th minute, and Ayman Ashraf put Egypt 2-0 up. Salah had a second assist for substitute Salah Mohsen’s goal and 4-0 in the second half. The Liverpool forward headed in for his second goal with five minutes to go. Mohamed Elneny got the sixth in injury time.