They have complained bitterly about their treatment in the build-up to the game, but if there is one team in the tournament who can upset the odds and defeat the hosts, it is this Senegalese side.

Packed with pace and talented ball-players, they have arguably looked the best team to this point, but must find a way to breakdown the organised and efficient Moroccans.

Here are some key statistics ahead of Sunday’s epic clash.

Fourth final
Senegal have been to three previous Cup of nations finals, losing the first two until they finally broke their duck in 2021. Their first in 2002 ended in a 0-0 draw against Cameroon, who won 3-2 on penalties. They were back in the decider in 2019, but this time lost 1-0 to Algeria. They did not have to wait too long for their first win though as they edged Egypt 4-2 on penalties in the decider following a 0-0 draw. It means there has been just one goal scored in their three deciders, after two minutes by Algeria’s Baghdad Bounedjah. Senegal have netted none. As an aside, Ivory Coast’s first four Cup of Nations finals all finished 0-0, before they beat Nigeria 2-1 in the 2023 edition.

Tight defence
Senegal have kept four clean sheets at the current edition and would equal their best run of five in a single tournament if they do so in this match, having achieved five in 2002, 2019 and 2021. DR Congo’s Cédric Bakambu scored against them in a 1-1 group stage draw, the only match they have not won in Morocco. Sudan’s Aamir Yunis Abdallah also netted against the Senegalese in the Round of 16. They have kept 15 clean sheets in their last 22 Cup of Nations matches and have not conceded more than one goal in a match since a 2-2 draw against Algeria in their final group game in 2017.

Most wins
Victory would see Senegal become the first team to win four successive knockout games at the Cup of Nations. They have won five games overall at the current edition, their joint-highest total alongside 2019. A victory would see them win six games at a single Cup of Nations edition for the first time. They are undefeated in their last 17 Cup of Nations matches since losing the 2019 final (W12 D5). In fact, that loss to Algeria is their only defeat in their last 22 matches (W16 D5).

Goals galore
Senegal have scored in all six of their 2025 matches, the first time they have done so at a Cup of Nations. The 12 goals they have scored at the current tournament is the most they have netted at a single edition. They have now scored in their last 10 Cup of Nations matches, last failing to score in the 2021 final against Egypt.

No Koulibaly
Senegal captain and defensive rock Kalidou Koulibaly misses the match through suspension, his second ban of the current tournament after a red card in the group stages. It means he misses an Cup of Nations final through suspension for the second time, having also missed the 2019 decider. Senegal will also be without influential midfielder Habib Diarra through suspension.

Super Sadio
Sadio Mane scored Senegal’s only goal against Egypt in the semi-finals, his 11th career goal at the Cup of Nations. Four of those strikes have come in knockout matches. His total Cup of Nations goal involvements are now 20, with 11 goals and nine assists. He is the ninth player in Cup of Nations history to score 10 or more goals, after Samuel Eto’o (18), Laurent Pokou (14), Rashidi Yekini (13), Hassan El-Shazly (12), Patrick M’Boma, Mohamed Salah, Hossam Hassan and Didier Drogba (all 11). Mane has also created 18 chances for teammates, the most of any player in the tournament.

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Second-ranked Senegal take on Egypt in the first of the semi-finals in Tangier, followed by the clash between hosts Morocco and Nigeria in Rabat.

These are the players from both sides with the most experience at the tournament and whose could be key to their respective team’s chance.

Yassine Bounou (Morocco)
The 34-year-old goalkeeper was picked for the 2017 finals in Gabon but stayed on the bench throughout, playing his first finals game in 2019 against Namibia. The semi-final against Nigeria will be his 17th game at the finals.

Munir El Kajoui (Morocco)
This is the fifth Cup of Nations finals for the backup goalkeeper, but he played only in the 2017 tournament and one match in 2019 (against South Africa) and one match in 2021. He has been on the bench ever since.

Youssef En Nesyri (Morocco)
No longer first-choice striker but still a strong option off the bench, this is his fifth tournament. He has five goals in 20 matches, one off the all-time record goals for Morocco at the finals held by Ahmed Faras, the hero of their 1976 winning team.

Idrissa Gana Gueye (Senegal)
Gueye’s six tournament appearances have seen him play in 27 finals matches. The 36-year-old first competed at the 2015 edition in Equatorial Guinea and has both a winners’ medal from 2021 and a runners-up medal from the 2019 edition.

Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal)
The former Chelsea and Napoli centre back marked his 100th cap for his country at the tournament in Morocco but was sent off in the same game. The 34-year-old is competing at a fifth Cup of Nations finals and Wednesday will be his 25th match at the tournament.

Sadio Mane (Senegal)
The former African Footballer of the Year has netted 10 goals in 27 tournament appearances since his first Cup of Nations finals run out in the 2015 edition against Bafana Bafana. He tucked away the decisive penalty that won Senegal the title in Yaoundé four years ago.

Romain Saiss (Morocco)
The skipper hurt himself in the opening game of the tournament against Comoros and his fifth tournament appearance looks to have come to an end after only 19 minutes. He played first in 2017 and has been through much heartbreak with Morocco over the last four tournaments.

Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
The Pharaoh inexplicably missed out on the finals for three successive editions in 2012, 2013 and 2015, so Salah has only played in five tournaments since 2017. He has 11 goals in 23 matches.

Mahmoud Trezeguet (Egypt)
The winger has been to five tournaments in a row and twice finished as a runner-up. The first was against Hugo Broos’ Cameroon in 2017 and then again at the 2010 finals in Cameroon, where his side lost on post-match spot kicks to Egypt.

Nigeria did not qualify for the Cup of Nations in either 2015 or 2017, so none of their players has competed in more than four tournaments since the 2019 edition in Egypt.

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A few hours before, Cape Verde beat Mozambique 3-0 in Abidjan to become the first team to secure a spot in the round of 16.

In Yamoussoukro, Sarr scored in the first half and Diallo and Mane scored in the second. This gave the defending champions a perfect six points after two Group C games. The losers only have one.

Late in the second half, Jean-Charles Castelletto scored to cut the lead in half, 2-1. But Senegal was determined to win convincingly, and Mane made it official.

Guinea plays the Gambia later in the second game of a doubleheader. If they win, they will be three points ahead of Cameroon with only one round of games left.

Cameroon called up Manchester United custodian Andre Onana, who missed a tie with Guinea because he got to west Africa late. He let in goals because of poor defence, though.

“I remember that in 2017 we lost to Cameroon in the quarter-finals, so during this match we did everything to win,” said Marseille forward Sarr.

“We were physically prepared for the match, and live as one family in the national team. This is what made us achieve the victory. We gave everything we had.”

The first game was played by five of the players who started the final against Egypt in Yaounde in 2022. Senegal won that game in a penalty shootout, with Mane scoring the winning try.

Aboubakar, Cameroon’s star forward, couldn’t play because he still hadn’t healed from the thigh injury that kept him out of the draw with Guinea four days ago.

From the start, the game in the central Ivorian city was more exciting. On 16 minutes, Sarr scored quickly to put Senegal ahead.

Cameroon missed two chances to clear a corner, so Sarr turned inside the box and fired a low shot that hit Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and into the corner of the net.

Frank Magri scored the goal for Cameroon against Guinea, but Edouard Mendy, the custodian for Senegal, beat him to a loose ball just before the half hour mark.

After a few minutes, the Sudanese referee stopped the game for a much-needed water break. It was 34 Celsius (94 Fahrenheit) when the game began.

As halftime was coming up, Enzo Tchato saved Cameroon by blocking Mane’s shot that was heading for the goal. Mane has been named African Player of the Year twice.

At the end of a close first half, each team had three shots, but only one hit the goal.

Senegal’s lead grew to two goals after 71 minutes. The goal was scored after Cameroon took too long to react.

After a series of short passes, Sarr sent in a low cross, and Diallo, who wasn’t marked, pushed the ball into the goal from close range.

Castelletto scored with a close-range header in the 83rd minute, giving former Chelsea custodian Mendy no chance. However, Mane scored in extra time, ending any hopes of a tie.

Photo by Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

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The two-time African footballer of the year is the latest prominent player to join the financially lucrative Saudi league.

“I’m really happy to be part of you guys, I can’t wait to see you,” Mane said in a video addressed to Al Nassr supporters on the club’s social media accounts.

Saaaadiiiioooooooo MANÉ! 🦁🗣️#ManéIsYellow 🤩💛 pic.twitter.com/NelGDo7MKh

— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) August 1, 2023

Both clubs announced the transfer of the former Liverpool star, which German media estimated to be around 30 million euros for a three-year contract with an annual salary of 40 million euros plus 10 million euros in performance-based bonuses for Mane.

Mane, 31, lamented his departure with two years remaining on his contract with Bayern Munich.

“Leaving Bayern hurts me. I would have wished for a different ending,” he told Sky Germany.

Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel echoed these sentiments when he spoke in Singapore on the eve of his team’s friendly against Liverpool.

“We had a long, big hug and we both agreed that we don’t like what’s happening now, but we think it’s for the best in this situation,” said the Bayern coach.

“Sometimes things don’t work out as everybody wants it to work out. In person I have always had a very good relationship with him and this will stay.

“I can totally understand that he feels hurt and I also wouldn’t feel happy if things like this happened.

“Obviously it’s something that we didn’t bring into the full potential, which is my job and my responsibility, but in this particular situation, it was the best solution to untie the knot.”

Mane moves to the club that initiated the first coup in a series of signings by Saudi clubs with the four-year capture of Ronaldo.

Mane was a key member of Jurgen Klopp’s lethal front three alongside Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino when Liverpool won the Champions League and Premier League in six seasons.

Mane scored 18 goals during the 2019-2020 season, during which Liverpool won its first English league championship in 30 years.

However, in the summer of 2022, Mane decided he wanted a new challenge, according to unconfirmed rumours that he had grown tired of playing second fiddle to Salah at Anfield.

Bayern made an aggressive play for Mane, promising to make him the focal point of an attack that had recently lost Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.

After a promising start to the season with Bayern, it quickly became apparent that Mane was not a good fit in Bavaria.

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Thirteen people scored, with Jamal Musiala, Mathys Tel, and Marcel Sabitzer each getting five.

Sabitzer scored all five of his goals in the second half. Last season, he was on loan at Manchester United, where he played for 22 minutes.

At halftime, Bayern was up 18-0. After the break, Rottach-Egern kept Bayern to nine goals.

Serge Gnabry scored three goals, and other players who scored were Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Noussair Mazraoui, Dayot Upamecano, Leroy Sane, Raphael Guerreiro, Ryan Gravenberch, Kingsley Coman, and Sadio Mane.

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Mane was seen at Munich’s Saebener Strasse training ground in a video posted on the club’s official Twitter page: “Hey, it’s a good feeling, after a long holiday, to be back.”

Great to see you out there again, Sadio! 🏃#MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/7sGOLlEbkG

— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) January 24, 2023

Mane, who is 30, hurt his right leg when Bayern beat Werder Bremen 6–1 at home on November 8. He had surgery, which means he can’t play for Senegal at the World Cup.

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said in early January that Mane, who came to Bayern from Liverpool last summer, could play in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 match against Paris Saint-Germain on March 8.

“If everything goes really well, he may be able to play again against Paris,” Nagelsmann said, telling the media there’s only a “small chance he plays the first leg”.

Photo by EPA/RONALD WITTEK

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Senegal had high hopes that their star forward, Mane, would help them go far in the tournament in Qatar. Mane’s exclusion is a cruel blow to those hopes.

Mane hurt his shin while playing for Bayern Munich earlier this month, but he was still put on the World Cup team in case he could get back in shape. On Thursday, Senegal announced that the former Liverpool player would not be able to make it.

“Unfortunately, today’s MRI shows us that the improvement is not as favourable as we imagined and unfortunately we have to withdraw Sadio from the World Cup,” team doctor Manuel Afonso said in a video on the official Senegal team Twitter account.

Teams are still making their way to Qatar after finishing last-minute preparations. The tournament starts on Sunday.

Germany arrived in Doha on Thursday, right after beating Oman 1-0 in a friendly match.

The team that won the World Cup in 2014 wants to forget about their bad performance in Russia four years ago, when they lost in the group stage.

Most of the 32 teams have chosen to stay in or around Doha, but Germany has chosen to stay in Al-Ruwais, a seaside town 68 miles (111 km) from the capital.

“We want to develop a team spirit there that will carry us through the tournament — and for as long as possible,” team official Oliver Bierhoff said.

Photo by BackpagePix

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Former Manchester City forward Leroy Sane, making his first start of the campaign, opened the scoring after four minutes, nonchalantly curling a strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Bayern’s energy and pace continued to trouble Bochum, with Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt celebrating his first goal in Bayern colours after heading in a cross in the 25th minute.

Replays showed the ball went in off de Ligt’s arm, but after a short VAR review the goal stood.

Kingsley Coman added a third on 33 minutes before laying on Mane’s opener in the 42nd minute.

After Mane’s penalty made it 5-0, Bochum defender Cristian Gamboa scored an own goal while trying to keep the ball away from the feet of Sane with 69 minutes gone.

Serge Gnabry completed the scoring in the 76th minute.

Bayern, who surprisingly lost 4-2 in the corresponding fixture last season, reclaimed top spot in the table.

They are the only Bundesliga team to have won all three of their opening matches.

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Egyptian Salah scored on the opening day of the Premier League for a sixth straight season to salvage a 2-2 draw for Liverpool at Fulham.

Senegalese Mane, who left Anfield for Bayern Munich during the close season, netted as the reigning German champions ran riot at Eintracht Frankfurt to triumph 6-1 in the Bundesliga.

Here, AFP Sport highlights some of the Africans who created headlines at the weekend:

ENGLAND

MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)

He helped rescue a point for the 2022 runners-up as they were unexpectedly held to a 2-2 draw by promoted Fulham. Jurgen Klopp’s men were still behind with 10 minutes left when a long ball towards substitute Darwin Nunez caused panic among the Fulham defenders. The ball eventually fell kindly to Salah, who netted from close range.

MOHAMMED SALISU (Southampton)

It was a match to forget for the Ghanaian defender and his Saints teammates as they suffered a 4-1 hiding at Tottenham Hotspur despite scoring the opening goal. Spurs were 2-1 ahead when, just after the hour mark, the off-balance Salisu made the game safe for the London club by turning a cross from South Korean Son Heung-min into his own net.

GERMANY

SADIO MANE (Bayern Munich)

Reigning African Footballer of the Year Mane picked up where he left off in Liverpool colours, scoring on his Bundesliga debut as Bayern thrashed UEFA Europa League title-holders Eintracht. Mane, who also scored in the German champions’ 5-3 Super Cup win over RB Leipzig, helped assuage those Bayern fans who are concerned their side may be toothless up front after the loss of Poland forward Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.

FRANCE

ACHRAF HAKIMI (Paris Saint-Germain)

The Morocco defender gave a plausible impersonation of Usain Bolt as he dashed forward, received a pass from Neymar and slammed the ball into the net for the second goal as PSG began their Ligue 1 title defence with a 5-0 hammering of hosts Clermont. It was a masterclass of anticipation by the former Real Madrid full-back.

The post African players in Europe: Salah, Mane score as season starts appeared first on SportsClub.

The Senegal forward first won the honour in 2019 while he was at Liverpool.

The 30-year-old left the Premier League club last month after signing a three-year deal with Bayern Munich.

“I am really honoured and highly delighted to receive this award again,” Mane said.

“Thanks to my coaches, my club and national team colleagues and those friends who stood by me during difficult times.”

Mane was in the Moroccan capital to receive the award after a dash across the Atlantic having converted a penalty for his new club in a 6-2 pre-season friendly win over DC United in Washington on Wednesday.

It was the second successive continental player of the year award for Mane after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the last two editions.

He won ahead of former Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah from Egypt and fellow Senegal international and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Mane and Salah played pivotal roles last season with Liverpool, who lifted the FA Cup and English League Cup and finished runners-up in the Premier League and Champions League.

Salah has since signed a new contract at Anfield while Mane opted for a move, with Bayern reportedly paying an initial 32 million euros ($32.5 million) that could rise to 41 million euros.

The transfer fee was a far cry from the four million euros Red Bull Salzburg paid Metz in 2012 when Mane made his first move in Europe.

– Decisive penalties –
In February, Mane converted the decisive fifth penalty to give Senegal a 4-2 shootout victory over Egypt and a first Africa Cup of Nations title after the final ended 0-0 in Yaounde.

A month later, Mane was once again the shootout match-winner against Egypt, this time in a World Cup play-off near Dakar after a 1-1 aggregate stalemate.

Salah did not get a chance to take a penalty in the Cup of Nations decider while he blazed the first Egyptian kick wide in the play-off that secured a World Cup place in Qatar this November for Senegal.

Born in a village nearly 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Dakar, Mane attracted the attention of Metz having played for local second-tier club Generation Foot.

After enhancing his reputation at Salzburg, Mane joined Southampton, where his feats included scoring a record-breaking 176-second Premier League hat-trick against Aston Villa.

In mid-2016 the Senegalese signed for Liverpool and went on to form a fearsome front three with Salah and Brazilian Roberto Firmino.

As Mane moved to Bayern, Liverpool manager said Jurgen Klopp said: “My only criticism of Sadio is that maybe at times he is the only one not to realise just how good he is.”

Nigerian Asisat Oshoala won the Women’s Player of the Year a record fifth time, overtaking compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha.

The 27-year-old Barcelona forward was forced to miss the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco due to an injury.

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