Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are set to go head-to-head once again on Thursday when the African Footballer of the Year is announced at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards in Rabat.
The attacking pair enjoyed a memorable club campaign with Liverpool going close to winning an unprecedented quadruple. Jurgen Klopp's side lifted both the League Cup and FA Cup only to finish runners-up in both the Premier League and Champions League – to Manchester City and Real Madrid, respectively.
At the end of the season, Salah signed a new deal with the Merseyside club while Mane felt the time was right for a move and joined Bundelsiga champions Bayern Munich.
On the international front, the duo have engaged in an intense rivalry, with Salah's Egypt taking on Mane and Senegal in epic matches in the Africa Cup of Nations final and World Cup finals eliminator.
And it was Mane who came out of both encounters victorious. Senegal secured their first Africa Cup of Nations title in February when Mane converted from the spot to win a penalty shoot-out 4-2, after the match finished goalless after extra-time.
If that wasn't heartbreak enough for Salah and Egypt, the two teams clashed again for a place in this year's World Cup finals in Qatar.
Egypt won the first leg 1-0, thanks to Salah's goal, only for Senegal to repeat the scoreline in the second leg to send the match into another shoot-out. Once again it was left to Mane to score the decisive penalty as Senegal won the latest spot-kick duel 3-1 in Dakar.
The Senegalese successes have made Mane favourite to win a second straight African Footballer of the Year award after 2019 – the last two editions were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The original shortlist also included: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Manchester City), Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon and Lyon), Naby Keita (Guinea and Liverpool), Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast and Borussia Dortmund), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and Paris Saint-Germain), Edouard Mendy (Senegal and Chelsea) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal and Napoli, now Chelsea).
This has now been whittled down to Mane, Salah and Mendy.
In the gallery above, you can see the last 25 winners of the trophy. To move on to the next image, click on the arrows, or if you're using a mobile device, simply swipe.
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
