Accra, Feb 7, GNA – Senegalese International, Sadio Mane, led his side to win their first African Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy last Sunday and he is seen by many sports pundits as a humble hero.
His last penalty-kick in the AFCON finals against Egypt gave Senegal the much-needed win to carry the day after failing to lift the trophy twice in the finals played previously.
Mane was born on April 10, 1992 and hails from Bambali, a small village in Senegal about 250 miles away from the country’s capital, Dakar.
The Liverpool forward at age 16, moved to Dakar to begin his football dream even though he knew no one there, but managed to have breakthrough at age 19, when French ligue 2 side, Metz, finally decided to sign him, having watched him play for a long time.
The striker’s performance was impressive after playing quite a number of matches for the French side and also shining for his national team, Senegal at the 2012 Olympics.
The Liverpool star made his international debut against Morocco in 2012 and played a key role in the Senegal team after which they suffered a 4-2 defeat to Mexico in the quarter final stage of the competition.
However, his excellent performance in the tournament got other clubs chasing to sign him and got into the history books of Metz in 2012, after being signed by Austrian Side, Red Bulls Salzburg, four million euros, making him the third most expensive player in Metz history, after Robert Pires and Miralem Pijanic.
He gained his feet while at Salzburg, becoming a prolific scorer, averaging a goal every other game and winning a domestic double in 2013/14. He left the club as a two-time Austrian Cup winner and two-time Champion, with 45 goals in 87 games during two seasons.
In 2014, Premier League side, Southampton, signed the forward who was then 22 years from Salzburg on a four-year contract with a fee of £10 million.
Sadio Mane in 2015 set a record as premier league’s fastest striker, scoring three goals in 176 seconds, beating Robbie Fowler’s record set in 1994, which stood at 276 seconds.
In 2016, he became the most expensive African player after Liverpool signed him for £30 million. Mane since joining Liverpool, has won the English Premier League Golden Boot, Champions League, European Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the Premier League.
In 2021, the Senegalese became the third African to reach 100 premier league goals, with Drogba and Mohammed Salah also achieving the same height.
Sadio Mane, who has a total of 29 international goals in 87 appearances.
Mane’s Senegal after reaching the quarter finals stage of the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) failed to sail through to the semi-finals. They came back very strong in 2019 but bottled their chances in the finals as Algeria defeated them by a long goal.
Senegal were finally crowned champions of the 33rd AFCON, defeating seven times champions, the Pharaohs of Egypt in penalties, after which Sadio Mane took the final kick to book Senegal their first AFCON trophy, being crowned the player of the tournament.
GNA