International Football
WHAT WORLD FOOTBALL ICONS SAY ABOUT MANE, AFRICAN SOCCER KING
Mane stats
- 64 – Since the start of the 2018/19 season, Mane has scored or assisted 64 goals for club and country.
- 88 – This season it’s taken Mane on average 88 minutes to score or assist for Liverpool, with his Anfield career averaging just 117 minutes.
- 22 – Mane’s tally of 22 goals last season in the Premier League was his best-ever tally, seeing him share the golden boot with team-mate Mohamed Salah and fellow African forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal.
Even before he was crowned as the new African soccer king on Tuesday in Egypt, Senegal’s Sadio Mane had been celebrated by the world best known footballers.
Before the poll that enthroned him, Lionel Messi and Eden Hazard already voted Mane as the best on the planet during the FIFA The Best polls.
Mane was part of a stellar cast of FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Champions League winning stars with Liverpool, the 27-year-old has joined the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah in earning individual plaudits, too.
The Premier League golden boot winner’s arrival at the pinnacle of African football comes after an incredible and inspiring rise from the streets of Bambali in southern Senegal. He was ten years old when he saw his heroes, the Lions of Teranga, appear at the FIFA World Cup™ for the first time – but he already had the football bug by then.
A teenage Mane briefly ran away from home to seek his fortune in the capital, while his first major try-out as a 16-year-old threatened to be overshadowed by his lack of kit.
“I did not look like a footballer,” he told France Football. “I was wearing pants that looked nothing like football shorts. And my football boots were completely shredded on the sides and had been repaired by me with wire the best I could.”
Thankfully, his dazzling talent was all the scouts were left remembering, beginning his rise to the top. He was a diamond in the rough with Metz in the French second tier, catching the eye of Red Bull Salzburg.
Then, while in Austria, he almost got an early opportunity to link up with Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, but the German coach passed on the chance.
“It was simply a wrong evaluation on my side,” the Liverpool boss admitted. “It is not the only wrong decision I have made, this one I could correct some years later.”
Here is what the stars say about the king:
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City): “Congratulations to Sadio for his trophy well deserved…and sorry I couldn’t come but I had to start scoring for the 2020 trophy…see you next year inch’Allah
Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona: “It’s a shame to see Mane finish in fourth place (at the Ballon d’Or). But I think there have been a lot of great players this year. That’s why it was difficult to choose a particular player.
“But I chose Sadio Mane because he’s a player that I like. Mane achieved a great year that was exceptional for the entire Liverpool team. That’s why I chose him.”
Christoph Freund, Red Bull Salzburg sporting director, talking with the Mirror:
“I found him in Metz in the third division and his development was outstanding. We saw a lot of potential. We saw his movements, his speed, he was so hungry to score goals. When we then met him personally he was really clear and he wanted to make the next step.”
Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool captain, talking on Sky Sports:
“He was Klopp’s first big signing and he was the one that got Liverpool back into the top four, the next season was the Champions League final and this season is challenging for the title. He is the one that has been there from the very start.”
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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