Sadio Mane is the first Senegalese player to win African Player of the Year since 2002Sadio Mane has arrived back at Liverpool early after missing his own party in Senegal to celebrate winning the African Player of the Year award due to travel disruption. Mane beat Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah and Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez to the award at a ceremony in Egypt on Tuesday and had hoped to fly directly to Senegal for a celebration. But the festivities were called off on Wednesday after the plane Mane was due to travel on did not get the necessary permission to fly over Tunisia. The 27-year-old also finished the 2018-19 Premier League season as joint top scorer with 22 goals. He came in fourth place in the Ballon d'Or last year, an award won for a record sixth time by Lionel Messi.

Source: Sky sports January 09, 2020 07:07 UTC