AFCON 2025 semi-finals will see two former teammates of Liverpool collide for a spot in the finals. The two talented players were unstoppable during their days at Liverpool.
Egyptian and Senegalese superstars Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were teammates at Liverpool for five years, where they became the most feared wingers in the English top division, winning all that they were expected to win.
Saido Mane at Liverpool
On 28 June 2016, Mane joined Liverpool for a transfer fee of £34 million, which could rise to £36 million on a five-year contract from Southampton after an incredible two-season campaign where he scored 21 goals in 68 matches for the Saints. Manchester United and Arsenal were all interested in the Senegalese forward, but he was excited by Klopp’s project and subsequently joined the Reds. His signing was met with huge expectations from Klopp and the Liverpool hierarchy, and Mane ultimately did not disappoint.
Mane arrived in Europe in 2011 as a determined young West African who was hell-bent on succeeding. After spells with Metz B before playing for the senior team, RB Slasburg won the youngsters’ signature, where he enjoyed a successful two seasons. Southampton paid £11.8 million to Salzburg and signed Mane on a four-year deal.
After two seasons, he got his ultimate dream of joining one of the humongous clubs in Europe. Liverpool paid £34 million to Southampton and signed Mane for five years. The rest is history.
Mane’s honours at Liverpool
1 Premier League
1 FA Cup
1 UEFA Champions League
1 FA Cup
1 Uefa Super Cup
1 FIFA Club World Cup
Mohamed Salah at Liverpool
Mohamed Salah signed for the Reds from AS Roma after finally showing his enormous talent in Italy. Salah did not get the needed opportunity in England when he signed from Basel in Switzerland to Chelsea. He had earlier shown so much talent in Egypt with AlMokawloon between 2010 and 2012, which forced Basel to secure his signature.
A loan move to Fiorentina and Roma helped strengthen him before permanently becoming a player at Roma in the 2016-2017 season, where he became a constant menace to Serie A defence.
Klopp earmarked him as one of the few guys to help build his Liverpool dynasty, hence signed him with a whopping £36.5 million from the Italian capital in June 2017.
Salah’s honours at Liverpool
2 EPL titles
1 EFL Cup
1 FA Community Shield
1 Uefa Champions League
1 UEFA Super Cup
1 FIFA Club World Cup
Are they really rivals?
Mo Salah won the 2017 and 2018 African Footballer of the Year awards, with Sadio Mane finishing second on those occasions. Mane improved drastically in terms of performances and dethroned Salah in the 2019 and 2020 editions, where Salah finished second on both occasions. The two never showed it publicly until August 19th, when Liverpool visited Burnley at Turf Moor, where Salah chose to shoot instead of passing to an open Mane, which made the Senegalese star so furious. It was there that people started talking about the rivalry between two teammates as they were in contention for the African footballer of the year award
How have the two fared in international football?
Aside from club football, the two have been fantastic for their respective national teams, with both being the all-time top scorers for Egypt and Senegal, respectively. Salah has scored 67 goals, while 52 have been scored by Mane.
The Egyptian King, Mo Salah, has won 113 caps for the Pharaohs of Egypt. Mane has made 124 appearances for Senegal with only three behind Iddrissa Gana Gueye, who holds the record for most caps won for the Lions of Teranga.
Salah is yet to win a trophy for Egypt after losing the 2017 and 2021 AFCON finals to Cameroon and Senegal.
Mane, on the other hand, lost the 2019 edition in the finals against Algeria and won on penalties two years later against Egypt in Cameroon.
Salah has appeared in one FIFA World Cup (2018 in Russia), where Egypt exited the group stage.
Mane has already played in two World Cups (2018 and 2022), where Senegal exited the group stage in 2018 and progressed to the round of 16 in 2022 in Qatar.
Who has been the best among the two?
Mo Salah and Sadio Mane have each won the Africa Footballer of the Year award twice. Salah in the Balon d’Or fished 5th in 2019 and fourth in 2025. Sadio Mane in 2011 finished second in the coveted Balon d’Or rankings behind Karim Benzema. He became the first African player to be ranked higher after Oppong Weah won it in 1995.
Salah has, on four occasions, won the top scorer in the EPL, while Mane has just won it once.
Both are 33 and are approaching the twilight of their incredible careers. It will be extremely difficult to chose among the two, the one who has had the better career.
Stade Ibn Batouta in Tanger will host the fourth meeting between the two after Mane won the 2021 AFCON finals on penalties and also triumphed on penalties in the play-offs of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Egypt won 1-0 in the first leg, with Senegal also winning 1-0, where the feisty contest was decided by a penalty shootout.
