Afcon final: Sadio Mane believes Senegal’s experience will give them the edge against Egypt

The Indomitable Lions reached the final in 2019 but have never won the Africa Cup of Nations

Liverpool teammates Sadio Mane (left) and Mohamed Salah will be on opposite sides in the Africa Cup of Nations final (Paul Ellis/NMC Pool) (PA Archive)

Sadio Mane feels Senegal’s experience will give them the edge against Egypt as he goes head to head with Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

Mane will lead favourites Senegal in Sunday’s showpiece against the Pharaohs, for whom Salah has starred in the Cameroon-staged tournament.

Senegal have never won the tournament but return to the final for the second successive time having lost to Algeria in 2019.

“Experience is a good asset,” said Mane, who scored his third goal of the tournament in the Indomitable Lions’ 3-1 semi-final defeat of Burkina Faso on Wednesday.

“I think that has always been the case since the start of this tournament.

“We suffered so much with a lot of Covid cases and several injuries too.

“We had a very difficult time but with our experience we kept calm until we recovered the whole group.

We played a final last time, so we have experience and we will try to win this trophy

Senegal captain Sadio Mane

“We played a final last time, so we have experience and we will try to win this trophy.”

Seven-time winners Egypt beat Cameroon in a penalty shoot-out to reach their first Africa Cup of Nations final since 2017.

That success set up a Mane v Salah final showdown in Yaounde, which Jurgen Klopp has said will benefit his Liverpool team when his star strikers return to England.

Egypt have had a difficult path to the final by beating the Ivory Coast, Morocco and Cameroon in the knockout stages.

Jurgen Klopp believes the experience of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations will benefit his Liverpool team (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

Aston Villa forward Trezeguet said: “We played amid very hard circumstances but we managed to overcome all difficulties.

“We played 120 minutes for three straight games but we remained fully focused on getting the job done.

“We will play against Senegal with a big determination as we learned from the loss to Cameroon in 2017.”