A new documentary shows how much the
Liverpool striker was influenced by his father’s early death and why he is funding a hospital back in Senegal
Of all the remarkable stories in the new documentary about Sadio Mané, there is one that stands out. From childhood memories of using a grapefruit as a ball in the remote village of Bambali to Liverpool’s
Champions League triumph in 2019, Made in Senegal features Mané narrating his rags-to-riches story and includes interviews with Jürgen Klopp and several of his Anfield teammates including
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. Yet Mané’s recollection of the day his father died is undoubtedly its most poignant moment.
“I was seven years old,” he says in the film. “We were about to play on the field when a cousin approached me and said: ‘Sadio, your father passed away.’ I replied: ‘Oh really? He’s joking …’ I couldn’t really understand it.”