Sadio Mane one step ahead of Mohamed Salah ahead of AFCON reunion

Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah will meet in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals and both men have been providing the goods for their countries so far

Sadio Mane is having a good tournament(Image: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto)

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will meet in the Africa Cup of Nations semifinals this week when Egypt faces Senegal in Tangier.

Salah scored in Egypt's 3-2 victory over Ivory Coast on Saturday, a day after Mane's Senegal beat Mali 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Everton's Iliman Ndiaye.

Salah's goal was his fourth at the tournament, while Mane has just one goal in five appearances – but that's not to say he's having a disappointing tournament. In fact, he has created more chances from open play (14) and had more touches in the opposition half (233) than any other player in the tournament.

Mane has actually been the most productive player in Afcon over the last 10 years, registering 19 direct goal contributions (10 goals and nine assists).

He is the only player who has registered more direct goal contributions than Salah over that span of time – the Liverpool forward has 16 (11 goals and five assists).

Salah and Mane were teammates at Liverpool for five years(Image: 2022 Marc Atkins)

Salah and Mane are both Liverpool legends, having played key roles in the club's successes under Jurgen Klopp.

But while the pair posted remarkable figures for both goals and assists during the five years they played alongside each other, they didn't always see eye to eye on the field.

The most infamous example of that was in an away game against Burnley in 2019, when Mane reacted furiously at Salah's decision not to pass to him when he seemed to be in a much better position to score than the Egyptian.

Mane continued to vent his anger after he was substituted, throwing his training top to the ground and gesticulating in Salah's direction from the bench.

"We have reconciled and become the good friends we were before," Mane said after the game, but the lingering sense that the pair's relationship was a tense one remained right up until Mane's move to Bayern Munich in 2022.

Mane added: “He [Salah] said to me [after the Burnley game]: ‘Sadio, why are you angry?’ I told him, ‘You needed to give me the ball, Mo’, to which he replied, ‘I didn't see you. You know I've got nothing against you’."

In an interview with L'Equipe earlier this year, Salah recalled how Mane's thirst for goals stood in the way of the pair having a stronger relationship.

“I scored a lot [44 goals in my first season], and then Sadio told himself it was his turn to score more too. Yes, there was tension with Sadio,” Salah said.

“Mind you, we were professional until the end, I don't think it affected the team. It's human to want more, I understand that, he's a competitor. Off the pitch, we weren't very close, but we always respected each other.”