Sadio Mané (born 10 April 1992) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Senegal national team.
Mané signed for fellow Premier League club Liverpool in 2016, for a reported fee of £34 million, making him the most expensive African player in history at that time.
[4][7] Having formed a formidable attacking trio with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino after the departure of prolific midfielder Philippe Coutinho, he helped the side reach back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, winning the latter.
In the 2021 final, Mané scored the winning kick in the penalty shoot-out to give Senegal their first Africa Cup of Nations title and he was also named the Player of the tournament.
At the age of 15, he ran away from his home village with the help of a childhood friend, Luc Djiboune, and went to Dakar to pursue his ambition of becoming a footballer; from that time he was supported by his family to fulfill his potential.
Metz set an asking price of €2 million for Mané, and he attracted attention, including from Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg sporting director Ralf Rangnick.
At the end of August 2014 Mané forced a transfer out of the club, by not coming to the training and to the most important game for Salzburg at that time to qualify for the Champions League.
[21] He made his first league appearance for the club in another 2–1 victory over Queens Park Rangers on 27 September, starting and assisting Ryan Bertrand for the first goal of the game.
[28] Mané scored two late winning goals in 1–0 league victories at Queens Park Rangers on 7 February 2015 and at home to Crystal Palace on 3 March respectively.
[31] On 16 May, during Southampton's final home match of the season, Mané scored three times in 2 minutes 56 seconds in a 6–1 win over Aston Villa to set a new Premier League record for the fastest hat-trick.
[35] On 2 January 2016, he was again dropped from the starting line-up by manager Ronald Koeman for a match at Norwich City when he turned up late for a pre-match meeting.
[36] He received a straight red card on 12 March at the end of a 2–1 win at Stoke City for a collision into Erik Pieters,[37] although this was quickly overturned on appeal.
[44] Having missed Liverpool's defeat at Burnley through a slight shoulder injury, Mané returned to the starting line-up against Burton Albion in the League Cup where he had two assists in a 5–0 win.
[51] On 9 September 2017, he was given a straight red card in the first half of a 5–0 loss to Manchester City for a high boot against goalkeeper Ederson,[52] resulting in a three-match ban.
[56] Later, with a goal in the 3–0 win over AFC Bournemouth on 14 April, he overtook Demba Ba's record of 43 to become the highest scoring Senegalese in Premier League history.
[61][62] His goals also saw him become only the fifth Liverpool player to score in six consecutive home Premier League appearances after Michael Owen, Fernando Torres, Luis Suárez and Salah.
[68] On 1 June, Mané helped win an early penalty for Liverpool in the 2019 UEFA Champions League final against Tottenham, only 24 seconds after the kick-off, after his cross was judged to have hit Moussa Sissoko's arm inside the penalty area; Salah subsequently converted from the spot to open the scoring, and Liverpool ultimately won the match 2–0 to claim the title.
[69] On 14 August 2019, Mané scored twice in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup final against Chelsea in a match that Liverpool won 5–4 on penalties after the game had finished 2–2 after 120 minutes.
[75] Two days later, he scored once and assisted two more goals as Liverpool beat Everton 5–2 in the Merseyside derby to extend their unbeaten run in league football to 32 matches, which was a new club record.
[76] Later that month, Liverpool won the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, with Mané setting up the winning goal scored by Firmino in the final against Flamengo.
[90] On 16 October, Mané scored his 100th Premier League goal—becoming the third African to reach the landmark after Didier Drogba and Salah—with Liverpool's opening goal in the 5–0 win away to Watford.
[94] On 3 May, he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 away victory over Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final, to secure his team's place in the final,[95] which Liverpool eventually lost 1–0 to Real Madrid.
[106] On 13 April, Mané was suspended and fined by Bayern, following reports he punched teammate Leroy Sané in the dressing room after a 3–0 Champions League quarter-final loss to Manchester City.
[109] Mané later revealed that former Liverpool teammates Fabinho and Roberto Firmino had previously contacted him in order to recommend to him that he might join their clubs, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia respectively.
[112] Mané was part of the Senegal team at the 2012 Olympic tournament, and started every match as they advanced through Group A as runners-up to Great Britain before losing 4–2 after extra time in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Mexico.
Mané was ruled out of the Senegalese squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a calf injury in Southampton's 2–0 win against Arsenal on 1 January 2015.
[128] On 4 June 2022, Mané scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 win against Benin in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, to become Senegal's all-time top scorer with 32 goals, surpassing Henri Camara.
[129] On 11 November 2022, Mané was included in Senegal's 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,[130] despite an injury he picked up during Bayern Munich's 6–1 win over Werder Bremen a few days prior.
[136] He was compared to Cristiano Ronaldo by former Ajax defender Danny Blind, who praised him for his ability to score with either foot and headers, along with making "astonishing" sprints.
[137] A versatile forward, Mané is a prolific goalscorer, whose main traits are his finishing, speed, technique, and trickery in possession, as well as his decision-making, tactical awareness, creativity, agility, balance, control, touch on the ball, and dribbling skills.