Complete Sadio Mane finally ascends to Africa's football throne

The Senegal international performed to a ridiculously high level in 2019, and there is a lot more to appreciate beyond just the numbers
It’s taken four tries, the Uefa Champions League trophy, a runner-up finish at the Africa Cup of Nations, the Premier League Golden Boot and an almost perfect first half of the 2019/20 season for Sadio Mane to finally be named African Footballer of the Year.

That the bar was – and needed to be – that high says a lot about the calibre of competition that stood in his way. Between them, Riyad Mahrez and Mohamed Salah had won the last three gongs, garlanded and holding their baubles aloft while Mane played the role of conscientious bridesmaid: toothsome, but with an underlying determination to finally catch the bouquet.
 

Neither of the two returned the favour this time. In the Senegal international’s moment in the spotlight, he was conspicuously alone; as he received the award, Mahrez was busy putting Manchester City two goals up on their mute and now-infirm neighbours United in the first-leg of the League Cup semi-final.

The common refrain, and perhaps the unanswerable football question of 2019, went thus: if Ronaldo and Mane had had their years reversed, would the placement have been the same?

Of course, there was an uncomfortable body-swap subtext to that line of questioning, but even outside the narrow brackets of profile and nationality, there were few in the calendar year who were as clutch as Mane, few as elemental to their team’s success whatever the frame of reference: club and international level alike.

The numbers bear this out, but also somewhat trivialize it.

The previous decade, more than any other, served to scramble all numerical context – context is, after all, better provided by scarcity, not abundance – and latterly sparked a rebellion against statistical analysis.

That said, 33 league goals in the calendar year for a Liverpool team that has accumulated more points than any other side, three goals for a Senegal team that came within a freakishly deflected strike of winning the Africa Cup of Nations in the summer, two goals in the Uefa Super Cup and five Uefa Champions League goals paint a pretty revealing picture.

However, it was not just about the figures; it never has been for Mane. There have been notable moments, and he has had them all over the world.





GOAL