Senegalese striker Sadio Mané, one of the big disappointments of the 2019 Ballon d'Or, consoled himself on Tuesday with the title of best African player of 2019 awarded during a ceremony in Hurghada (Egypt). Mohammed Salah and Riyad Mahrez complete the podium.
Fourth in the classification of the Ballon d'Or, won for the 6th time by the Argentinian Lionel Messi, Sadio Mané had a successful year both with Liverpool (victories in the Champions League and the Club World Cup), as with his selection, beaten in the CAN final. He also finished co-top scorer in the 2018-2019 Premier League season, with 22 goals. In total, the 27-year-old twirling winger scored 34 goals in 2019 and made 12 assists in 61 games.
The Liverpool player is ahead of his Egyptian teammate Mohammed Salah, who had won the two previous editions, and the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, captain and one of the main architects of the victory of the Fennecs at the African Cup of Nations. It is the first time that Mané has won this award. The last sacred Senegalese was El-Hadji Diouf in 2002, a year also marked by a CAN final, but also by a quarterfinal at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
The best goal for Mahrez
"I am really happy and proud to win this trophy" reacted on the podium the Senegalese, the only player present among the three named on the banks of the Red Sea. Riyad Mahrez, 28, will be able to console himself a little with the prize for the best goal of the year, for his free kick in the skylight which offered qualification for the CAN final in Algeria in the very last moments of the match against Nigeria. His country was also crowned best African team of the year, and his coach, Djamel Belmadi, was also awarded.
The offensive midfielder of Manchester City is however the only Algerian player in the typical African team of the year, which includes the Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Senegalese of PSG Idrissa Gueye or the defender of Cameroon and Liverpool Joël Matip.
The Nigerian Asisat Oshoala was crowned best African player. The Barcelona striker reached the Champions League final and helped Nigeria get out of the pools at the 2019 World Cup in France, which ended in elimination in the round of 16. The second African team that came out of the pools, Cameroon, won the prize for the best team of the year.
Samuel Eto'o, four-time winner of the trophy, hosted the ceremony organized by the African Football Confederation in the presence of the President of Fifa Gianni Infantino or the French coach Arsène Wenger.
The XI of the year:
Andre Onana (Cameroon / Ajax Amsterdam), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco / Borrusia Dortmund), Kalidou Koulibaly (Cameroon / Naples), Joël Matip (Cameroon / Liverpool), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast / Tottenham); Hakim Ziyech (Morocco / Ajax Amsterdam), Idrissa Gueye (Senegal / PSG), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria / Manchester City); Mohammed Salah (Egypt / Liverpool), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon / Arsenal), Sadio Mané (Senegal / Liverpool).
- Sport