Sadio Mane’s Senegal lost the AFCON final against Algeria tonight by a single goal to nil.
The winning goal came from Baghdad Bounedjah with less than two minutes on the clock, and even though Mane and his teammates had a long time to recover, they never managed to level the game.
Mane will be disappointed to have lost the final, not least because this was the goal that proved to be the winner – an incredibily (un)fortunate deflection.
That's not a deflection, this is a deflection.
Algeria take the lead against Senegal in the #AFCON2019 final #SENALG https://t.co/iklBdpU1qc
— James Nalton (@JDNalton) July 19, 2019
The Reds are likely to give Mane three weeks off to recover and recuperate before he will return to training. That would mean his pre-season starting the same weekend as the Premier League returns.
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He’d then need a bit of time to get back up to speed, perhaps fully returning to the fold after the first international break in September.
While he will have been gutted to lose out tonight, at least the memories from Madrid are still fresh in the mind.