In Liverpool, Mane has reached a new level in his career. He created a dangerous trident in attack with Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino, helping the team for two consecutive years in the Champions League final and once champion. In the English Premier League in the 2018-19 season, Mane was the top scorer with Aubameyang and Salah with 22 goals each. The impressive achievement helped Mane to fourth in the European Golden Ball poll and fifth in FIFA’s The Best 2019 list.

By early 2020, Mane was honored with the best player in Africa. Until the ball stopped rolling due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Mane and his teammates were alone on their way to the first Premier League title. All of those achievements came under Klopp. But the German coach must also admit he had a bad impression when he first met that student.

After witnessing Mane’s performance directly against Liverpool, Klopp was completely convinced. Liverpool led Southampton 2-0 at half-time, before Mane came in and scored twice to reverse the situation. In the summer of 2016, Mane docked at Anfield for a fee of £ 34 million.

Contrary to the rapper-like appearance that Klopp described, Mane is not in the real life of a millionaire playing football. In 2018, he went to the mosque in Liverpool a few hours after the victory over Leicester to help clean the toilet. Sadio took the initiative to ask the staff at the cathedral not to send videos of him out, because he didn’t want to make pictures and not someone who wanted to please the fans. Sadio has a Bentley, but usually gets there in a normal car.

Mane’s hometown is where the World Bank estimates that up to 70% of households live in poverty. His father had died because there was no hospital to treat him, while his younger sister had to be born at home. That’s why Mane recently built a hospital in his home town. When Covid-19 broke out across the globe, Mane quickly sent £ 40,000 to the Senegalese government in support of the epidemic.

A poor past is the driving force for Sadio Mane to rise up in the football industry, and to return to his native Senegal with a heart of philanthropy.

The newly released documentary Made in Senegal reveals many hidden corners of Mane’s miserable childhood. From a kid who gets a bitter grapefruit to one of the best-winged strikers on the planet is a long journey. The first shock came when Mane was seven years old when his father died of illness. He once told himself that he must do his best to help his mother. It is not an easy responsibility when he is too young.

The Mane family are religious people in Bambali and want their son to become a teacher instead of pursuing a football career. Meanwhile, football is Mane’s dream to change his life. But it was not an easy decision, especially when nobody around him supported him. At one point Mane thought he was wasting his time because success in football was only in his imagination.

At the age of 15, Mane decided to leave home. After querying for information from his best friend, his parents called to take Mane home. But he was still determined and was finally allowed to try football at the end of the school year.

When the time came, Mane was one of the most out of 300 young players who tried their luck. He wore a pair of pants that looked unrelated to football pants and wore a pair of torn shoes. However, during the mock match at Generation Foot Academy, Dakar, Mane shone and scored four goals. Thanks to the guidance of the founder of the academy Mady Toure, Mane has improved. In 2011, he was recruited by the French Metz Club and started his European adventure.

After a shining summer at the 2012 Olympic Games and helping recruit Senegal’s children to the quarterfinals, Mane went to Austria to play for Red Bull Salzburg. His advancements are increasingly solid when he joined Southampton in 2014 and Liverpool from 2016. Currently, Mane is one of the best players in the Premier League in particular and the world in general.