Yaounde Feb 7 (BUS): Sadio Mane finally threw his first African Cup for Senegal, and Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah could do nothing about it but stand and watch.
Mane hit the decisive penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the lower left corner to beat Salah and Egypt in Sunday’s final in Cameroon and make up for a missed penalty early in the game, The Associated Press reported.
Senegal won the penalty shootout 4-2 after it ended 0-0 after extra time. Salah, who was supposed to be his team’s last penalty kick, had no say in the penalty shootout after two of his teammates missed.
Senegal had lost in two previous finals, including to Algeria at the last Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in 2019, when Mane was left without consolation.
This time Manet made a winning moment. He raced to celebrate joyfully with his teammates, but also came back to spend some time comforting Salah, who was in tears.
“We are proud,” said Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who was also crucial to the case by saving the penalty shootout in the penalty shootout. “We have never won before. We worked hard to win this cup and today we won as a group and as a country.”
The final at the Olympic Stadium in Yaounde was described as a battle between Liverpool strikers Mane and Salah, who were looking for their first major title with his country.
But it never reached the pinnacle of classicism despite the presence of the two stars.
It was even after the final match began with drama when Senegal won a penalty kick in the first five minutes of Mohamed Abdel Moneim’s foul on Salio Sis.
When it became clear that Mane would take it, Salah went to goalkeeper Mohamed Abu Jabal to give him some advice while covering his mouth with his hand. This seemed to infuriate Mane, who interrupted their conversation and pointed his hand towards the right corner of the goal.
In the end, Mane hit the penalty kick in the seventh minute directly through the middle and was stopped by Abu Jabal.
Senegal continued to miss a string of other chances, and Abu Gabal was shining in last place for Egypt.
Salah made two shots on the goal in the first half, and the second was a powerful shot that was heading to the upper corner before it was caught by Mendy. But Salah exited the match in the second half of the original time, as he clearly suffered from fatigue from the Egyptian team, which was also without coach Carlos Queiroz on the touch line.
Queiroz was given a red card in the semi-finals and banned from the touchline, and spent the final watching it from the stadium benches, sometimes talking on the phone.
All three of Egypt’s semi-final matches went into overtime, two of them took place on penalties, and it appeared that Egypt was playing to penalty kicks again in an attempt to win the record-breaking eighth African title.
Egypt won on penalties in the round of 16 and the semi-finals without missing it, but failed on penalties in the penalty shootout on Sunday.
Defender Abdel Moneim completed the miserable final match with Egypt wasting for the first time, hitting a penalty kick off the post. Senegalese Bona Sarr, the next penalty kick, was saved by Abu Jabal.
But Mohanad Lashin saved Egypt’s fourth penalty kick by Mendy, letting Mane win it and Salah dropping his head and starting to wipe his tears with his shirt. Salah has now lost two African Cup finals after Egypt were unable to maintain a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1 to Cameroon in 2017.
Mane said before the tournament that he would give up everything he won at club level to lift the African Cup with Senegal. He was so eager to get his hands on the trophy that he had to shove it away from him when the players were getting their medals.
Mane had to wait for Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly to go to the VIP area for the trophy to be officially presented in the presence of Cameroon President Paul Biya, CAF President Patrice Motsepe and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Coulibaly slowly returned to the pitch and his teammates cup holders, enjoying every second as Senegal finally shed the title of best team that had never won an African Cup.
The result was also special for Senegalese coach Aliou Cisse, who was the captain of the team and missed the decisive penalty kick in the penalty shootout when Senegal lost the 2002 final to Cameroon. Cisse was also the head coach of the 2019 disappointment.
His players eventually grabbed him and threw him in the air.
“African champion,” Cisse said. “It was long. It was difficult. Complex at times. But we never gave up.”