February 9, 2022

Sadio Mane lifting the Africa Cup of Nations trophy is the latest step in his remarkable football journey.

The Liverpool forward scored the decisive penalty as he faced off against his teammate Mohamed Salah to win the AFCON for the first time in his country’s history.

Mane posted pictures of him in bed with the trophy on Monday morning and few would have begrudged him his happiness, even if it did come at Salah’s expense.

The Senegalese hero has far from forgotten his roots since becoming a world-class forward either, having helped fund the construction of a school and hospital in his home town of Bambali.

Mane rates Afcon over UCL as his most important career title

“Why would I want ten Ferraris, 20 diamond watches, or two planes? What will these objects do for me and for the world?” Mane said in 2019, as reported by AS.

“I was hungry, and I had to work in the field; I survived hard times, played football barefooted, I did not have an education and many other things, but today with what I earn thanks to football, I can help my people.

“I built schools, a stadium, we provide clothes, shoes, food for people who are in extreme poverty. In addition, I give 70 euros per month to all people in a very poor region of Senegal which contributes to their family economy.

“I do not need to display luxury cars, luxury homes, trips and even planes. I prefer that my people receive a little of what life has given me”.

Mane’s path to becoming a star for Jurgen Klopp’s side ultimately started as a teenager when he and his uncle made a 500-mile trip to Dakar for academy trials.

The 29-year-old explained how a coach at the trials had misjudged him because of the clothes he was wearing, before shortly winning him over with his footballing ability.

“I left my city to go to the capital with my uncle, and there were trials on,” he told Goal in 2016.

“We went to them and there were lots of boys being tested and getting organised into teams. I will never forget this, and it is funny now, but when I went to try out there was an older man that looked at me like I was in the wrong place.

“He asked me ‘are you here for the test?’ I said I was. He asked me, ‘with those boots? Look at them. How can you play in them?’. They were bad, really bad – torn and old. Then he said, ‘and with those shorts? You don’t even have proper football shorts?”

“I told him what I came with was the best I had, and I only wanted to play – to show myself. When I got on the pitch, you could see the surprise on his face.

“He came to me and said ‘I’m picking you straight away. You’ll play in my team.’ After those trials, I went to the academy.”

Joining up with the Generation Foot academy, he stayed with family friends he had never met before in order to make his dream a reality, eventually signing for French side Metz in 2011.

After fellow academy graduate Ismaila Sarr signed for Watford in 2019, when the two sides met at Anfield, Mane told club captain Troy Deeney: “Take care of my boy.”

Though he may not be the captain of his national side, it is that same quiet sense of leadership that has helped Senegal succeed and allowed Mane to write his name in history.

–Liverpoolecho.co.uk