Sadio Mane was the hero of Senegal as he held his nerve to tuck away the decisive penalty in the AFCON final shootout and seal a first trophy in the competition for Aliou Cisse’s men.
His old teammate at Liverpool, Gini Wijnaldum, jumped onto Twitter to share a message of congratulations to the 29-year-old, joking that he’d always had faith in the No.10’s spot-kick abilities.
Some great friends and amazing players in the AFCON final yesterday, but only one team could win! Congrats Sadio, @IGanaGueye, @Abdou_diallo_ and the whole Senegal team for this historic win👏🏾🏆🇸🇳 and Sadio, you know I always believed in you taking penalties 😜#AFCON #AFCON2021 pic.twitter.com/lyHIFuJaGO
— Gini Wijnaldum (@GWijnaldum) February 7, 2022
The former No.5 departed Anfield in the prior summer window, with PSG snapping him up on a free transfer.
READ MORE: Mane shares Liverpool ambition in conversation with Salah post-AFCON final heartbreak
It was a tremendous moment for our left-sided winger, particularly as he made up for a prior missed spot-kick in the first-half of action.
Having secured his nation’s first-ever AFCON trophy, we can only begin to imagine the kind of boost this will give Mane for the rest of the season as we look to fight on all fronts for silverware domestically.
Likewise, Mo Salah’s heartbreak in the final will only encourage the No.11 to achieve success in England, as has already been demonstrated by his determination to be back in team training today.