Bayern Munich’s new striker, Senegalese Sadio Mane, was named the 2022 African Footballer of the Year at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) gala in Rabat, Thursday.
Mane outperformed his compatriot, Chelsea goalkeeper Edward Mendy, and Egyptian Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool striker.
It is the second time that Mane won this prestigious award after 2019, when he was a player in the ranks of Liverpool, knowing that the award was canceled in the last two years due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mane played a key role in leading the Senegalese team to defeat the Pharaohs led by Salah in the 2021/2022 African Cup of Nations final and then in another playoff match to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The two confrontations that took place in Cameroon and Senegal in favor of the “Teranga Lions” ended in penalties, where Mane scored his two kicks on both occasions, knowing that the Senegalese victory at the time had been decided before Salah reached his role in the payment, but Salah missed his kick in the second and decisive confrontation to qualify for the Cup the scientist.
Senegal’s superiority this year gave Mane some additional chances to win the race for the best player title, which he had previously won once in 2019, before the award was canceled in the next two editions due to the Corona pandemic.
Mane became the first Bayern Munich star to be chosen as the best African footballer.
The closest player from the German champions to win the award was Samuel Kufuor, Ghanaian, in 1999 and 2001 when he finished second.
Mane moved to Bayern last month in a three-year deal from Liverpool, which he joined in 2016 from Southampton, and was described by German coach Jurgen Klopp as a “complete striker”.
“My only criticism of Sadio is that sometimes he is the only person who doesn’t realize how good he is,” Klopp explained.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson praised the 30-year-old’s goal instinct, saying, “Whenever he is in front of goal, you don’t think he will miss the opportunity.”
Salah won the award in 2017 and 2018, before Mane’s victory in the following year raised the number of winners from Liverpool to four, after the Senegalese, El Hadji Diouf, had previously won the award in 2002.