Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will face each other on Sunday in the AFCON Final. They are talismans for their teams and therefore, let’s take a look into their goalscoring record to see how they have fared for their national teams.
The Liverpool duo have contrasting styles of play. While Mane revels in using his physicality and his knack for goal predation, Salah uses his skilful movement to weave out of tight spots. Both have considerable pace as well. Though Salah’s play focuses more on constant, repeatable goal-creating actions. While Mane has thrived on magicking goals out of nothing.
Salah and Mane goalscoring record in numbers
These unique approaches have translated into their goal-scoring numbers as well. Mohamed Salah has scored 45 goals and provided 25 assists in 79 appearances for Egypt while, Sadio Mane has found the back of the net 28 times in 84 appearances, Sadio has also provided 20 assists for Senegal. The slight caveat in the numbers is Egypt’s comparative dominance in CAF.
Salah also trumps Mane in goal-scoring numbers for Liverpool. The Egyptian King has scored 16 goals, assisted 9 times in 20 appearances. Meanwhile, Sadio Mane has scored 8 goals and provided 1 assist for The Reds. Salah also has been in a red-hot form this season.
However, Mane has the clear edge when it comes to performances in AFCON. The Senegalese forward has a mind-numbing WhoScored rating of 9.40.
Mane has won Man of the Match four times in this competition by scoring 3 goals and providing 2 assists. He has also completed 5 dribbles and made 5 key passes. It can be said that Mane has been the player of the tournament so far. Meanwhile, Mo Salah has an average rating of 6.98 in this tournament. He has scored twice and assisted once. Salah has also won two Man of the Match awards.
Egypt likes to play pragmatic; tournament football and Salah could be considered the victim of that style of play. Salah has also committed 6 fouls in 10 appearances for Egypt more than he has committed for Liverpool in 26 appearances. Thus, it can be inferred that it has been slightly frustrating for the Egyptian King.
Verdict
The media has already billed the final as Mane v Salah. We don’t disagree though. Two of the best players in not only Liverpool but also the world will clash to win honours for their nations. While Salah has better numbers overall, Mane has been gilt-edged and has been the best in the tournament. It is a mouth-watering prospect to see the two teammates square off and it would be interesting to see, who rises to the occasion in what is forecasted to be a scrappy final.
