Mane in the famous Liverpool-Barcelona match in 2019
Dubai – Hussein Lotfi
Posted on: August 01, 2023: 10:13 PM GST Last updated: August 01, 2023: 10:40 PM GST
Djorkaeff makes a mistake in taming the ball, Omar Daf takes advantage of the opportunity and passes the ball to his colleague Diouf on the left wing, the latter dodges Frank Lobov and slowly approaches the penalty area, sends a cross pass that he mishandled Emmanuel Petit and goalkeeper Barthez to find Papa Bouba Diop the ball in front of him, and it hits the net announcing the Historic victory for Senegal against defending champion France.
The players celebrated by dancing at the corner flag in Seoul, Korea, and more than 13,000 kilometers west in the village of Bambali, the Senegalese all danced, and among them was a 10-year-old boy named Sadio, that moment was a milestone for him, so he decided to follow in the footsteps of He watched them reach the quarter-finals of the most expensive football competitions, and after this day, more than 10 years later, this kid became more famous than his predecessors, he won his country the first African Cup in its history and won 10 championships with 3 different clubs, and he is still looking forward to creating greater glory in the Saudi League .
On Tuesday, Al-Nasr announced the inclusion of Senegalese Mane from Bayern Munich, in his fourth summer deal after the Croatian Marcelo Brozovic, the Ivorian Sekou Fofana and the Brazilian Alex Telles.
An escape.. Then an inspiration to complete the dream
Mane fled from his father, the imam of his village, Bambali – who died when he was seven years old – to try his luck in football in the capital, Dakar. He was returned after a few days to his village, but he ended up returning to the capital of Senegal after a few years, after an event that completely changed his way of thinking.
The defeat of the defending champion, France, against his Senegalese counterpart in the first stage of the 2002 World Cup group stage was a miracle for the 10-year-old at the time, and it became a source of inspiration for him after the “Teranga Lions” reached the quarter-finals.
Mane says: After the World Cup, the children of my village and I held a football tournament, and my determination and insistence increased day by day to be the best among them. Everyone was telling me that I was the best, but my family was not interested in football, and they were planning other things for me.
“They started to change their minds when they realized that football was in my heart and mind, especially my uncle, whom I convinced to leave our town and head to Dakar, the capital.”
His mother and uncle sold the crops they were harvesting in order to raise money to help him chase his dream, not only them, but the villagers collected whatever money they could to secure enough for Sadio to follow his passion.
Mane continues: When I arrived in Dakar, I lived with a family I did not know. I offered them a little money and talked about my ambition before they allowed me to stay in their house. There was a person in common between them and my family, who took me to my new home. They provided me with the necessary care. They took care of me in everything, so that I could focus only on football.
And the striker who was playing soccer was supplemented with some kind of round-shaped fruit because there was no actual soccer: In the village, there is no other work to do than to become a farmer. My childhood dream was to write history and win all the prizes.
“I am in France.. in Europe”
After tests that dazzled everyone, Mane joined Generation Foot, and then continued his journey to his partner Metz in France. Olivier Perran, former director of the Training Center at Metz Club and Director of Operations at Generation Foot, contributed to this deal, and said about it: He was doing exceptional things. He has a positive mindset. His ability to dribble opponents was one of his strengths and it became clear he had to sign for Metz. So I offered the club to bring him in.
Mane did not tell his mother that he would leave his country for a better level of football. He arrived in Metz in the winter season, specifically on January 4, 2011. The 31-year-old remembers in a documentary: The first thing that struck me was the wind.
“I only told my uncle. My mother did not know. In my first days in France, I did not have credit on my phone to talk to my mother. A friend of mine gave me his phone and I called her and told her that I was in France. She said which France? I told her France in Europe, and she replied: What do you mean?” In Europe? Are you in Senegal? I told her, “No, I am in Europe.”
“She used to call me every day to make sure I wasn’t in Senegal. I told her, ‘OK, turn on the TV when Metz plays. You’ll see me in France.'”
He hid his injury out of fear
The beginnings were complicated for the young player, who hid an injury for fear of being sent back to Senegal.
Biran explained: He didn’t put one foot in front of the other, he didn’t show what he could do and I didn’t understand why.
I thought maybe it was cold for him, but in fact it was because he had a lower abs injury. When we found out, he underwent surgery and soon joined the professional players and has always stayed there.
Mane stayed for only a year and a half at Metz before the latter had to part with his services after falling to the lower division in 2012.
Piran remembers: The club needed money to recover, so it was sold for 4.1 million euros to Salzburg and its compatriot Kalidou Coulibaly (currently the heart of Al Hilal’s defense) for 2.5 million to Genk.
With Schmidt, it all began
The forward continued to develop in Austria, Peran added: “He was a very talented lad but he liked show at the expense of effectiveness. At Salzburg he had a coach (Roger Schmidt) who helped him improve his finishing.
Mane previously praised Schmidt and said: The atmosphere in Austria was cooler than France, and I did not speak German, but coach Schmidt helped me a lot, with him everything started, pressing and attacking, I learned a lot from him.
And about his period with Salzburg, Piran added: You never know if the player will be able to reach a very high level, he is a man above all and you never know how he will develop and improve, for example in Metz he was not good at heading.
He continued: He is constantly looking for improvement. If he’s not doing well, he reviews the game to see how he can improve. He has the ability to do self-criticism, which not many people have.
“Like Ronaldo or Messi, he leaves nothing to chance, whether in his daily work, his diet, his sleep or his ability to prepare even on vacation.”
The Senegalese played 87 matches with Salzburg, during which he scored 45 goals, and passed his teammates 32 assists between 2012 and 2014.
“African time”
One of Sadio Mane’s most prominent problems with his coach Ronald Koeman in Southampton after he moved to the latter in 2014 in the most expensive Saints Club deals at the time was his constant delay in training, even on match days.
This repeated delay prompted Dutch coach Koeman to ridicule him and told him that he was walking according to “African time”. Mane moved to Liverpool, but he went without his habit and learned commitment and discipline in the “Mersey” river city.
3-pillar system
Mane has a distinguished system, so his diaries revolve around three pillars: football, maintaining his body to be as competitive as possible and prayer, as religion occupies an important but discreet place in his life.
In September 2018, he appeared in a video helping clean the bathrooms of a mosque in Liverpool, hours after he scored against Leicester City. He also appeared carrying a phone with a broken screen, which indicates different priorities in his life, despite his huge income.
He commented to L’Equipe about this, saying: I am a Muslim, I pray five times a day, and when I can I do it in the mosque.
“Once I went there, I found there a very good friend from Ghana, I invited him to have some tea at home after praying and he said: No, I have to flush the mosque toilets. I told him we will do it together. At that moment someone filmed us and I asked him not to post section online.
“He swore he wouldn’t post it, and the next day the video was everywhere.”
beautiful comment
Mane did not forget the position of the people of his village and their collection of money to help him in his football journey, and when his star shone and became one of the best players in the history of his continent, shining in the English Premier League, he returned the favor through his charitable projects.
In 2019, Mane donated £250,000 to build a school in his hometown, and in March 2020, he gave £41,000 to the National Committee Against COVID-19 in Senegal.
In addition, he has also funded the construction of a gas station and post office for his community, and contributed to supplying his village school with laptops and free internet.
Manny is an ambassador for Right To Play, an international non-profit organization whose mission is to empower children in poverty. He collaborated with another organization to provide equality and empowerment to girls and women in Senegal, and to raise awareness of the importance of both girls and boys having access to opportunities to play sports and get a quality education.
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2023-08-01 18:13:00
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