Senegal and Liverpool star Sadio Mane scored a 98th-minute penalty in a 1-0 win over Rwanda to maintain the African champions’ perfect start to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. The striker settled a drab encounter in the Senegalese capital Dakar when holding his nerve to drill home and finally break Rwanda’s resistance. Sadio Mane who is heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich has converted a spot-kick deep into added time for the second time this year.
He scored a 97th-minute winner against Zimbabwe in Senegal’s opening Nations Cup game in Cameroon and now he has done it again. Mane – who also scored the winning penalty in the Nations Cup final – is enjoying a memorable spell after netting a hat-trick in Saturday’s win over Benin to become the Teranga Lions’ record goalscorer.
Despite playing in Dakar in what was a nominal home tie for Rwanda, the Nations Cup winners Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and PSG’s Idrissa Gueye among them – struggled to find the back of the net. Senegal has played their opening two qualifiers at home, with Rwanda reversing Tuesday’s match to enable them to continue renovations on their Amahoro Stadium in Kigali.
The Teranga Lions are five points clear in Group L after just two games, but Benin and Mozambique – who have played just once – meet on Wednesday.