AFCON 2021: Sadio Mane Shows Class by Consoling Emotional Mo Salah After Senegal Beat Egypt in Final

• A video of Sadio Mane consoling Mohammed Salah after Senegal defeated Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations has gone viral
• Mane scored the decisive penalty in the shootout, making up for his earlier miss in normal time
• Egypt missed two of their first four penalties as Mane scored his spot-kick as Senegal made amends for the 2019 AFCON final loss to Algeria

Sadio Mane took some time to console his Liverpool teammate Mohammed Salah after Senegal triumphed over Egypt to win the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Mane was the hero for Senegal, making amends for his earlier penalty miss in the game by scoring the decisive spot-kick in the penalty shootout after a 0-0 stalemate.

There was little to separate the two sides throughout the match as both nations cancelled each other out, and neither was able to score in 120 minutes, forcing the game to go to a penalty shootout.

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Egypt were slight favourites when it came to penalties, especially because they have participated in two shootouts in their route to the final.

However, the Pharaohs missed two of their first four penalties, offering Sadio Mane the perfect chance to give his nation their maiden AFCON trophy, and he made no mistake in his second strike from 12 yards.

He fired home his penalty into the left corner to send his teammates into a frenzy as Senegal won the coveted piece of silverware for the first time in their history.

For Salah, it was another case of a close shave for him and his Egypt side, and he will have to wait until the next edition to give the competition another go.

Touch of class from Mane

Mane, who knows all too well about the disappointment of losing in a final having lost in AFCON 2019 to Algeria, was quick to console his Liverpool teammate Salah moments after the fulltime whistle.

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Despite clearly buzzing after the winning penalty, the 29-year old could not help but give a word of encouragement to Salah, who was all too willing to listen.

Salah was clearly distraught from emerging as runner up as he took off his medal immediately he was awarded it.

The two forwards are now set to return to Liverpool after more than a month out of club football action.

“Two warriors"

Recently, Jurgen Klopp hinted that the pair would get right back to action immediately after the AFCON without necessarily having an extended period of rest.

"These two boys are real warriors,” Klopp said as quoted by Sportbible

"I know they want to play immediately but together with them we have to find out how much sense it makes. You can imagine both want to play against Leicester, both want to be involved, score goals and win football games for Liverpool.”

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Mane named AFCON best player

Meanwhile, Sports Brief earlier reported that Sadio Mane was crowned the best player at the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations after leading the Teranga Lions to their first-ever AFCON glory.

The Liverpool star was joined on the podium by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who was awarded the golden glove, with Cameroon's Vincent Aboubakar scooping the golden boot.

Mane starred at the tournament for Senegal, scoring three goals and providing two assists as they won the trophy for the first time in their history.