Mane the difference maker
If Sadio Mane had not quite secured the Player of the Tournament award before the final — indeed, other standout performers, like Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman and Brahim Diaz of Morocco also had a decent claim to the prize — it was his remarkable display of composure and maturity near the end of regulation time, as almost everyone else on his team lost their heads, that conclusively clinched it for him.
Not long after referee Jean-Jacques Ndala ruled out a potential Ismaila Sarr winner for a preceding foul, the Congolese awarded a penalty for a clumsy, though seemingly soft, El Hadji Malick Diouf foul on Brahim Diaz.
The response from the Senegal bench, helmed by head coach Pape Thiaw, was memorable. Thiaw called his players off the pitch in protest, effectively ordering a forfeiture of the game. One man, though, refused to heed that call: Mane.
The Al-Nassr player resisted a directive that could have had dire consequences for, not just Senegal, but African football in its entirety. Mane stood his ground, eventually managing to convince his coach and teammates to return, rallying them for a resumption that would begin with Diaz missing a long-delayed spot-kick and end with a Senegal triumph.
Pape Gueye may have scored the solitary goal — which sprung from a move Mane started by winning the ball in how own half and setting up Idrissa Gana Gueye for the pre-assist with a deft back-heeled pass — but nobody was left in doubt about just who it was that made all the difference in the fixture, turning what could have been one of the darkest nights in Senegalese football history into one of its most glorious.
It probably was not the sort of script Mane had in mind for his last AFCON game, but he would not be complaining at all now, would he?