Sadio Mane showed a lot of courage and mental strength after missing a penalty kick, and led Senegal to crown the African Cup of Nations for the first time;

To bring a happy ending to a tournament in which his team was in trouble in Cameroon.

Mane missed a penalty kick in the seventh minute in the final match against Egypt in the "Olympic" stadium in the capital Yaounde, and it would have cost his team dearly if he missed a similar kick after the match was extended to penalty kicks after the original and extra time ended in a goalless draw.

🇪🇬 Egypt loses the title and gains respect..waiting to cross the World Cup #African NationsCup #Qatar2022 #thisevening #TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 |

#AFCON2021 #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/EGyeGV4IOv

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 7, 2022

But he overcame early disappointment to score the decisive penalty kick and give his country a 4-2 victory.

🗣️ Salah tells Abu Jabal the password... The Pharaohs' goalkeeper is up to the responsibility and heroically tackles a Mane penalty kick... the height of excitement 🤯🔥#African Nations_Cup |

#Egypt_Senegal#TotalEnergiesAFCON2021 |

#AFCON2021 pic.twitter.com/mUcyNNYikw

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 6, 2022

The victory came after the Senegalese team dominated the final match, after expectations nominated it before the start of the tournament to win the title, and confirm its worth as the highest-ranked team in the continent.

And Senegal, located in West Africa, had previously lost the final match of the tournament in the 2002 and 2019 editions.

Senegal was almost untested in the tournament, although it scored a single goal in the group stage from a penalty kick by Mane in the first match against Zimbabwe, but despite that, it ranked first in its group.

They subsequently beat Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso to secure an appearance in the final, while Egypt faced a more difficult run.

Egypt played extra time in all its matches in the knockout stages, and won two matches by penalty shootout, and then the team was clearly affected by these additional efforts in the final match, which also extended to the penalty shootout, so that the team ranked second for the second time in 3 finals, to cry the leader Mohamed Salah was affected by the defeat.

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A post shared by Sadio Mane (@sadiomaneofficiel)

The tournament witnessed the death of 8 people and the injury of 7 others seriously injured in a stampede in the match between Cameroon and Comoros in the final price.

Cameroon was scheduled to host the finals in 2019, but the tournament was moved to Egypt due to Cameroon's lack of readiness to organize.

And it was decided to hold the next tournament in Cameroon in 2021, but it was postponed due to Corona, and witnessed the emergence of infections with the highly contagious virus and spread among most teams, while the mass attendance decreased for reasons related to the pandemic as well.

The next Africa Cup of Nations will be held in Ivory Coast in the summer of 2023.