Sadio Mane, Patson Daka and Mo’ Salah
African players are setting European championships alight with record breaking performances.
Liverpool’s African duo Sadio Mane and Mohammad Salah, and Leicester’s Patson Daka have all inked their names in the English Premier League record books.
Senegalese talisman Mane joined a rank of players who have scored 100 goals in the EPL. The 29-year-old opened the scoring in a 5-0 rout against newly promoted side Watford. His goal which came in the 9th minute was a brilliant one time finish of a scintillating outside-of-the-boot pass by Salah.
With the goal, Mane became the 31st EPL player and third African player to reach the century goal mark. Ivorian Chelsea legend Didier Drogba and Mane’s Egyptian teammate Salah are the two others who have both reached the milestone with a jointly held record of 104 goals.
After making history, a thrilled Mane said, “honestly, when I came to the Premier League my dream was to score as many as I can and especially to win trophies. So today I’m very happy and very proud to score 100 goals. Hopefully, more goals [are] coming and also trophies coming.”
Liverpool’s coach Jurgen Klopp in his reaction said Mane’s feat was special because it did not include penalties, “and the special thing is, we should not forget that Sadio Mane – I’m not sure if he scored penalties for Southampton, not that I know – scored 100 goals without a penalty, so that makes a difference for sure. It’s a special number, absolutely. He should be and will be, hopefully, proud of that.
“That doesn’t happen for a lot of players. You don’t have to talk about Sadio’s quality – he’s a world-class player as well. It’s incredible how good he is. Big day for him, 100 percent, and I’m really happy for him.”
Hugging the right flank of the Liverpool attack, Egyptian king Salah, who just can’t stop creating and breaking records, backed claims of being the world best player with another world class performance.
Salah, who provided an assist to usher Mane into the EPL 100, scored a goal of his to equal Drogba’s goal tally of 104 on the all time Africa goal-scoring list in EPL.
The goal is a replica of the mesmerizing goal he scored against EPL defending champions Manchester City a month ago. Salah toyed with the Watford backline before firing the ball into the back of the net with his right foot.
Elsewhere, Leicester’s forward Patson Daka became the first Zambian player to score a goal in the EPL.
The 23-year-old who came in for Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho in the 77th minute scored the last goal as Leicester edged Manchester United in a 4-2 thrilling encounter.
Daka slipped away from the Manchester United backline to slot the ball home from close range.
