Leadership personified: How Sadio Mane’s decision saved African football from global embarrassment

Mane captained the Teranga Lions during the final against the hosts Morocco, in the absence of suspended captain Kalidou Koulibaly. 

The situation got heated just before halftime, when a Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala, awarded a late penalty to the hosts, following the VAR review. This led Senegal to walk off the pitch and threaten not to return.

Mane explains....

"Sometimes these kind of things can happen in football, which is not great for me because football is special. The world is watching and the world loves football. I rather lose than allow this kind of thing to happen to our football."

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Leading into this final, Senegal didn’t have it easy, as their mother body issued a long, detailed statement complaining about ticket allocation, security, and the training ground.

But when it comes to waking off the pitch, Mane says this shouldn’t even be considered in a big tournament, like the AFCON.

"I think it was bad, the football should not even stop for ten minutes, but what can we do, and we just have to accept that we did it and that we returned to play the game."

Mane, the former Liverpool striker and now Al-Nassr’s marksman alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League, finished the tournament with two goals and three assists, but it was also his leadership qualities that won him the admiration of the footballing community, earning him the Player of the Tournament award.

This second AFCON title means a lot to the 33year-old.

"I can't complain and wish more than that. I'm really happy, and it wasn't easy, but we fought from the beginning to the end and I felt that we deserved to win."

Mane says when Brahim Diaz missed the penalty, they got more motivation to come back into the game and finish it off, and they managed to do that in the extra-time, in front of a sold-out and packed Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium, which was very hostile towards them...