Mohamed Salah led his country to the final for the second time in the last 3 copies, while Senegal plays the final in the presence of Sadio Mane for the second time in a row, so that the confrontation between them in the Yaounde final is on a hot tin..
the height of competition
The individual competition between Salah and Mane is not hidden, despite their playing for the Liverpool team, both of which target the major individual titles, which brought them a lot of criticism about the lack of cooperation on the field in an optimal manner, so as not to help one another achieve the top scorer title or win individual awards..
Salah defeated Mane twice in the award for the best player in Africa, and crowned it in 2017 and 2018, but the Senegalese surpassed his Egyptian colleague for the third time and grabbed the award in 2019, and in 2020 the award was canceled, and enough has not yet revealed the fate of the 2021 edition..
Salah won the Player of the Year award in England 2017-2018, and won the Golden Boot after crowning the Premier League top scorer in the same season, but in the following season Mane rose up and competed with Salah in the top scorer award, until he joined him in the last matches of the season, and shared the award with Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. After all, they scored 22 goals.
The competition that hides behind the Liverpool shirt, the team spirit, coach Jurgen Klopp’s statements and both players that they are cooperating for the benefit of the team, will turn into a clear and explicit form in the African Nations Cup final, and Salah and Mane will become opponents that one will not wish success for the other..
Winning the African Cup of Nations will have a major role in resolving the individual struggle between Salah and Mane in order to win the title of best player in Africa 2022, and despite Salah occupying third place in the “The Best” award and seventh in “Ballon d’Or” for the year 2021, amid Mane’s decline in the two awards, But the African bet remains the most important criterion for CAF“.
mani’s prophecy
Before the start of the tournament, Mane stated that he was waiting for Salah or Naby Keita, his teammates in Liverpool, in the final match, a prophecy that has already been fulfilled by reaching the final in Egypt and Senegal.
But after the draw for the deciding stage of the World Cup qualifiers resulted in two back-and-forth confrontations between Egypt and Senegal to determine the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, Mane said that his country would “beat Egypt with a clean goal”, which is the same result that he expected his country to win in the final..
Salah responded in a press conference to Mane sarcastically, saying: “Senegal crossed the group stage in the tournament (African Nations) with one goal in 3 matches, and this goal came from a penalty kick,” referring to the suffering of the Teranga lions at the beginning of the competition..
What did the duo do in the tournament?
Salah contributed to 75% of Egypt’s goals in the tournament, scoring two goals against Guinea-Bissau and Morocco, and making a third against Morocco, contributing to 3 out of 4 goals scored by the Pharaohs in 6 matches.
As for Mane, he contributed 5 goals with the Senegalese team in the tournament, where he scored 3 goals against Zimbabwe, Cape Verde and Burkina Faso, and assisted two goals against Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso..
Individual competition this season
Salah outperforms Mane in contributing to Liverpool’s goals this season. The Egyptian pharaoh played 26 games in all competitions, during which he scored 23 goals, 16 in the Premier League and 7 goals in the Champions League, with 9 goals in the English Premier League..
Mane scored less than half of Salah’s goals this season, only eight goals in the Premier League, and two goals in the Champions League, with one goal in the Premier League.
