4 Facts To Know About Liverpool Star Sadio Mane

[Image Source: Sadio Mane Instagram]

Written By: Ifeanyi Ibeh

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In this article, we look at some little-known facts about one of the players expected to be a major contender for the 2022 African Footballer of the Year award.

Yes, we are still many months away from knowing who will emerge as this year’s African Player of the Year, but one of the players we would expect to be in the running for the continent’s biggest individual prize is Sadio Mané.

Without a doubt, Mané is one of the best footballers from Africa and indeed the world. With his current form, especially after leading Senegal to Africa Cup of Nations glory in Cameroon, and helping Liverpool to the English League Cup, Mané can easily become Senegal’s all-time best by the time he calls it a day on his footballing career.

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But did you know that Mané would have ended up not playing football if his family had their way? His family did not approve of his dream of becoming a professional footballer so when Mané was 15, he ran away from home to attend a football trial in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Fortunately, he passed the trials and we all know how the rest of the story panned out.

You may have noticed that I mentioned Mané’s family and not his parents. That is because, while growing up, and this is another little-known fact, Mané lived with his uncle as his parents had lots of children and could not meet up financially with his basic needs.

Did you also know that the 2019 African Footballer of the Year shares his birthday – April 10 – with Liverpool’s all-time record appearance holder, Ian Callaghan? No one has made more appearances for The Reds than former midfielder Callaghan, who made an incredible 857 appearances in all competitions for the Anfield landlords.

Finally, did you know that Mané is the custodian of the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history? On 16 May 2015, during his time at his former club Southampton, in a game against Aston Villa, Mané scored thrice within 2 minutes and 56 seconds, thus breaking the previous record of 4 minutes and 33 seconds set by Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler against Arsenal in 1994.