Mané leads Senegal in search of title to finally be above Salah

Alongside manager Jürgen Klopp, they are the face of the most successful Liverpool in the last 30 years. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané form an attacking duo that gave the club a Premier League title and a Champions League cup.

But this role in the English team, at least in the eyes of the football world, is not exactly divided. The 29-year-old Egyptian attracts more attention, competes for the main individual awards and is more celebrated than his Senegalese companion.

This Sunday (6), in the final of the African Cup of Nations, Mané will try to guide his team to an unprecedented title in the continental competition. He conquers that would put him, finally, above Salah.

Despite Egypt’s dominance in the tournament’s history (it has seven trophies), its main name today has never been African champion and, like Mané, is seeking his first title.

“It’s a big deal for both of them to qualify for the final. It won’t be easy, because one will be really happy afterwards and the other one less. But it’s a chance to achieve something very big,” Klopp said of having his two main athletes in the decision. african.

Weeks before the tournament, Mohamed Salah came close to winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award, given to Robert Lewandowski last January. Lionel Messi, the most awarded athlete in men’s football (six times elected), was in second place, with the Egyptian in third.

In the list of winners as the best African player, Salah has two distinctions (2017 and 2018), while Mané has one (2019, when he was continental runner-up).

A victory in the final of the African Cup, combined with the great season he is doing for Liverpool, would give the Egypt star more arguments to compete again and with more force in the next edition.

In 20 Premier League matches, Mohamed Salah has already scored 16 goals and 11 assists. In the Champions League, he scored seven times in the six games he played.

For the European competition, he has better numbers than when he was champion in the 2018/2019 season, a campaign in which he recorded 5 balls in the net. One of them, however, was the most important of his career so far, in the final against Tottenham.

Salah scored the first (Origi scored the second) of the victory over rivals in London, a triumph that won Liverpool the title. And a feat that put the African striker forever in the history of Liverpool and the Champions League.

Mané also shared with Salah the conquest of Europe, but always in the shadow of his companion.

In the Champions League title, he scored four goals and provided three assists.

In the following season, 2019/2020, Liverpool ended a three-decade fast without winning the English league. Mané had an outstanding participation, with 18 goals and 9 assists. Salah, however, went further: he scored 19 times and gave 11 passes on goal.

The African Cup of Nations, in which the Senegalese does better individually than his teammate, will be the opportunity for Mané to reach the top and take the spotlight ahead of the Egyptian.

The striker, leader of a Senegal that has never been African champions, has 3 goals and two assists in the competition. Salah, with a more discreet performance, scored twice and gave a goal pass.