The Senegalese winger is just the third African player to score 100 goals in the Premier League.
Among the many highlights from Liverpool’s 5-0 win at Watford yesterday was Sadio Mané scoring his 100th Premier League goal. The tally gave Liverpool an early lead and made Mané just the third African player to reach the century mark in the Premier League. With the goal, the winger is also only the third player to find the back of the net 100 times in the English top-flight without scoring from the penalty spot.
Mané was understandably thrilled to reach the milestone, and he reflected a bit on what he’s achieved since joining Liverpool in 2016 in an interview with Liverpool’s official website.
“Honestly, when I came to the Premier League my dream was to score as many as I can and especially to win trophies,” Mane said.” So today I’m very happy and very proud to score 100 goals. Hopefully, more goals [are] coming and also trophies coming.”
Mané joins Didier Drogba and Mohamed Salah as the only other African players to score 100 times in the Premier League. Salah, who reached the milestone earlier this season, tied Drogba’s African PL record by tallying his 104th goal in the win over Watford.
Between the superb individual effort of Salah’s goal, which felt remarkably familiar after the similar goal he scored against Manchester City in Liverpool’s last match, and the hat trick scored by Roberto Firmino, it was easy to overlook the impressive nature of Mané’s milestone.
However, that didn’t stop LFC’s number ten from heaping praise on his teammates for their own goals after the victory.
“I think it’s a better goal than City!” Mané said of Salah’s goal. “But it’s no surprise for us because we know his quality, one of the best players in the world. He showed it today.”
“Bobby [Firmino] as well – he showed it – one of the best for sure in the world. I’m very happy for them.
“Especially Bobby’s hat-trick, it was not an easy time for him with injuries but he is back and I’m happy for him. Hopefully, he will be here for us and score more goals for us until the end of the season.”
It feels as though it’s been quite some time since Liverpool’s front three were all on good form simultaneously, but five goals and two assists between them in a single match seems to suggest we might be seeing it once again.
If this front three, which is lethal when even two are firing on all cylinders, are all at the top of their game, there is very little that will stop them from scoring at will against any level of competition. With the season still in its early stages, don’t be surprised to see several more records and milestones set by Mané, Firmino, and Salah by the end of it.
