By Velile Mnyandu (@Velile_Mnyandu) in Cameroon
After scoring the winning penalty in the shootout over Egypt, Senegal’s Sadio Mané has described winning the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday as the best day of his life.
Mané, who had a penalty saved in the first half of the game, was elated after helping Senegal win their first AFCON, and the Liverpool man says it is the most important trophy he has won.
The 29-year-old already has a pretty good collection of accolades, including winning the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. He had also won two trophies in Austria with Red Bull Salzburg.
“It is not only the most important trophy but is the most important day of my life,” Mané said in the mixed-zone after the game.
“The best day of my life!
“Of course, so far the best trophy of my life, sadly and I can’t express my feeling today.
“I’m very happy, very proud of our team.”
Mane says that he wasn’t happy about missing the penalty in the game, but his teammates helped him through the situation.
“I was not happy because most of the time I score a penalty,” he continued.
“But I think the big difference today is my teammates, after missing the penalty, everybody came to me in the dressing room ‘Sadio, we don’t care what happened, we lose together, we win together. We push again and we’re gonna make it’.
“And when I was going to the second penalty, they all come to me, ‘with us, you go do it’.
“I think that makes a difference. I think that was the strength today for Senegal, so it gave me motivation to score and I did it.”
Mane also says it is a momentous moment for Senegal, and he was delighted especially for coach Aliou Cissé.
“I think this trophy is the first ever trophy of the historic Senegal, so the people cry everything about it because they’ve been waiting so long,” he added.
“But still this trophy myself, I think I give it to Aliou Cissé, he deserves it. This man for me, is something else!”
