The sheer weight of the silverware does not hurt though, especially when, like Salah and Mane, there is a prestigious award in the offing. Mane though would still score pretty highly by that measure, seeing as it was his Senegal that eventually lost the final to Mahrez and Algeria. At club level, Mahrez has been a part of Manchester City’s relentless winning machine, but only latterly has his role been significantly expanded. The search for deeper meaning can only be resolved by latching on to a comforting pattern: the end of the 2010s has seen the return of the larger-than-life African superstar forward that dominated African football in noughties. For Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Emmanuel Adebayor, read Salah, Mane and Mahrez: all influential attackers playing at the absolute highest level of football in Europe, while being the veritable emblems of their country’s hopes.

Source: GhanaWeb January 07, 2020 08:03 UTC