Salah and Mane .. Tomorrow a new struggle for the award for the best African player
The annual award ceremony for African football in the capital of Morocco, Rabat, tomorrow, Thursday, will be the scene of a new traditional confrontation recently between the two former teammates in Liverpool, the Egyptian, Mohamed Salah, and the Senegalese, Sadio Mane.
Three players are competing for the African Player of the Year award after reducing the number from ten, and it included Salah and Mane, the Senegalese goalkeeper for Chelsea, Edouard Mendy.
Mane played a key role in leading the Senegalese team to defeat the Pharaohs led by Salah in the 2021/2022 African Cup of Nations final and then in another playoff match to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The two confrontations that took place in Cameroon and Senegal in favor of the "Teranga Lions" ended in penalties, where Mane scored his two kicks on both occasions, knowing that the Senegalese victory at the time had been decided before Salah reached his role in the payment, but Salah missed his kick in the second and decisive confrontation to qualify for the Cup the scientist.
Senegal's superiority this year gave Mane some additional chances to win the race for the best player title, which he had previously won once in 2019, before the award was canceled in the next two editions due to the Corona pandemic.
If Mane wins, he will become the first Bayern Munich star to be chosen as the best African footballer.
The closest player from the German champions to win the award was Samuel Kufuor, Ghanaian, in 1999 and 2001 when he finished second.
Mane moved to Bayern last month in a three-year deal from Liverpool, which he joined in 2016 from Southampton, and was described by German coach Jurgen Klopp as a "complete striker".
"My only criticism of Sadio is that sometimes he is the only person who doesn't realize how good he is," Klopp explained.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson praised the 30-year-old's goal instinct, saying, "Whenever he is in front of goal, you don't think he will miss the opportunity."
Salah won the award in 2017 and 2018, before Mane's victory in the following year raised the number of winners from Liverpool to four, after the Senegalese, El Hadji Diouf, had previously won the award in 2002.
The Egyptian star presented a wonderful season 2021-2022 with the "Reds", where he shared the Golden Boot award with Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean scorer Son Heung-min.
Salah was named the best player in the English Premier League by the Professional Footballers Association and the Association of Football Journalists.
Mendy booked himself a place in the final list of candidates after a high performance with the Senegalese team, in addition to his consistent performances with Chelsea.
Among the women, three players will compete for the best award, and they are Cameroonian Ajara Nchot Ngoya of Inter Milan, Nigeria's Asissat Oshoala of Barcelona, and Zambia's Grace Chanda of Kazigurt of Kazakhstan.
Oshoala was named African Women's Player of the Year four times, most recently in 2019.
The selection of the best women's team will be postponed until after the Nations Cup final between Morocco and South Africa in Rabat on Saturday.
Among the coaches, Senegal coach Aliou Cisse, former Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz, and Moroccan Wydad coach Walid Rekraki will compete for the award.
It also competes for the best men's club award for Al-Ahly of Egypt, Nahdet Berkane and Wydad of Morocco, and the best team for Cameroon, Egypt and Senegal.
Winners are selected by African football legends, CAF Technical Committee members, coaches, national team captains, selected clubs and media.
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