Sadio Mane could win the CAN, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League this year, but history and voting records suggest he is unlikely to win the Golden Ball, with George Weah the only African who has won the award.
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Sadio Mane gives an update on his future in Liverpool
Sadio Mane has always had the ability to dream big … and he had to, when he was a kid he couldn’t be further from a football future.
His dreams persuaded him to flee his small village in southern Senegal, hiding his bag at the end of the lawn so he could sneak out early on his way to the capital Dakar. Those dreams finally led him to the glory of the Premier League and the Champions League, but only after a tortuous route, through the Generation Foot Academy, his links with the French club Metz, and then Austria with Red Bull. Salzburg.
He would be the first to admit that his childhood dream was fulfilled in a glorious way, but now he has another one … to correct the mistakes of the apparent racism against his continent. Only one African footballer has won the Ballon d’Or, but this year, after leading his country to the glory of the Africa Cup of Nations, and two trophies in England, the honor is finally close again for a player from the African continent.
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The Champions League final will surely decide, with Mane and his teammate Mo Salah facing this year’s favorite Karim Benzema. And the striker says he’s still dreaming. “Two finals are something, but you have to dream big and I’m a player who dreams big. I think playing a Champions League final is special and we have to make it even more special “, he explained.
“Winning the African Cup is without a doubt one of the biggest moments. Honestly, I’m really enjoying every moment. The Champions League final will make it even more special when we win it! We all have our goals, to be afraid of all the trophies, to win the Champions League, which would be special. It would be even more special for me to have another bonus which is the Golden Ball, and it would be the happiest player in the world. But for that, you have to decide !! ”
Mane would be a popular winner, but he clearly faces what appears to be an obvious bias against players of African descent, with George Weah the sole winner, in 1995. Zinedine Zidane, who is from Marseille but has parents of ancestry Algerian. Strangely enough, he won it only once, in 1998.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were only fourth in the Golden Ball (
Image:
Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images)
Since 1995, no player from the African continent has finished in the top three, with Mo Salah and Mane himself only finishing fourth, despite their stellar success with Liverpool and their nations. Clearly Mane thinks this is just amazing and unacceptable, as so many people in football do. And when it was suggested that there was a biased element in the vote, he said:
“It’s true. If you say so, what can I say? It’s sad. The Africa Cup of Nations is one of the biggest for me, it’s the biggest trophy I’ve ever won, and for an African player not to have won the Golden Ball since George Weah, is sad.
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Mané agreed that the Champions League final will probably play a decisive role in the award this season, and he knows that he can have a big influence on his destiny, with another good performance on the world stage. He scored in his first Champions League final, a defeat to Madrid, and won a penalty in his second, which was the decisive goal in the win against Tottenham, so what is the plan for the third? “I think (this time) I scored the goal and won the final!”
And Mane is not afraid to beat him on penalties. He missed Liverpool’s fifth penalty in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, but first won the African Cup of Nations for Senegal with the decisive penalty, and then won a qualifying play-off for the World Cup. World against Egypt Salah country, with the fifth feather.
And he said: “We are fully prepared for this if it happens, but we would love to win it in 90 minutes. Of course (another penalty), there is a long history with Sadio and penalties, but I will never give up, I will return to to score the decisive penalty ”.
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