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'Anything is possible'
The man with a grin as potent as his footballing talent is doing a fine job of finding his feet at Bayern München. Sadio Mané tells us about his new club, his time at Liverpool and the childhood that shaped his winning mentality
WORDS Ian Holyman & Chris Burke | INTERVIEW Jérôme Vitoux | PHOTOGRAPHY Adam Pretty
Interview
Sadio Mané has managed to squeeze every last drop out of the talent he first honed by juggling an orange as a boy – just don’t expect him to squeeze the fruit itself as well. Even though the Bayern forward loves a challenge (a point he proved again this summer by calling time on his trophy-rich adventure with Liverpool), there are limits. “I try to make him drink orange juice, but he has a bit of trouble,” grins Benjamin Pavard, one of Mané’s new team-mates in Bavaria. “He only drinks water.”
Sadio Mané has managed to squeeze every last drop out of the talent he first honed by juggling an orange as a boy – just don’t expect him to squeeze the fruit itself as well. Even though the Bayern forward loves a challenge (a point he proved again this summer by calling time on his trophy-rich adventure with Liverpool), there are limits. “I try to make him drink orange juice, but he has a bit of trouble,” grins Benjamin Pavard, one of Mané’s new team-mates in Bavaria. “He only drinks water.”
Sometimes he carries it too. Not in the sense once employed by Eric Cantona to mock his then France team-mate Didier Deschamps – supposedly an unimaginative “water carrier” on the ball – but literally. As in, he has literally been seen hauling packs of bottled water from team coach to dressing room while on Senegal duty. Hardly the job of the nation’s star forward, but Mané’s humble willingness to help out colleagues, and his dedication to clean living, are almost legendary in the game.
They are qualities that have served him well, so he is not about to change now. Especially not when Bayern’s fans want to see that same hard graft put to the service of the team. Ideally they are also hoping that the two-time African Footballer of the Year can crank the lever on a regular supply of goals, the precious commodity that Robert Lewandowski churned out with uncanny ease before his switch to Barcelona. The prolific Pole left behind a record of 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern when he departed in July – not to mention a giant hole to fill.
The task of filling it will need to be shared around. Inevitably however, as the new face in the attack, much of the responsibility has rested upon Mané’s shoulders. That’s arguably a little unfair, and a player less inclined to roll up his sleeves might be tempted to grumble. Not Mané. “Switching from one club to another is not easy,” he tells Champions Journal. “I spent eight very nice years in England: two at Southampton and six at Liverpool. Now I’m in a new country. It’s not easy because everything changes so suddenly: people, training, everything. I need to adapt. I knew that and it came as no surprise. It’s happening just the way I imagined. People here are welcoming and they’re real players. The people around the club are amazing, so I’m very happy.”
Coach Julian Nagelsmann has echoed that line about the need to adapt. More importantly, he tells us that he is not banking on a Lewandowski Mark 2, which is no doubt why he has also given Mané time on the left wing as he refines his system. “He’s very good in attack, which he was known for at Liverpool, and he can play in different positions,” says the Bayern boss. “He’s not the classic No9, like Robert Lewandowski, but he has other attributes which are good for us.”
For Lothar Matthäus, those include “speed, strength and quality”, and the club great expects the 30-year-old “to become a fan favourite among Bayern supporters”. Mané has already shown he can get German nets bulging. Club debut against Leipzig in the domestic Super Cup? Goal. Bundesliga debut in a 6-1 defeat of Frankfurt? Goal. German Cup debut versus Viktoria Köln? Goal.
Only in the Champions League did he have to wait to make a splash, but he did so in style against Plzeň on Matchday 3, helping himself to a goal, an assist and the Player of the Match award. He then backed that up with another goal against the same team on Matchday 4 – and scored one in the Camp Nou on Matchday 5 for good measure.
Though Mané has not always been consistent up front in the Bayern shade of red, he remains the man who notched 120 goals for Liverpool – many of them vital, none of them penalties – and he brings a pedigree backed up by a shiny array of medals. The Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, English League Cup, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup… Mané won them all on Merseyside. Not that he would ever boast about it.
“He is quiet, he smiles a lot and he’s very professional,” says Pavard, while Nagelsmann has been bowled over by the newcomer’s modesty. “He’s a really good spirit, a good character. He’s extremely down to earth and not the classic superstar. Instead, he wants to develop and always wants to improve. He’s humble, even though he’s won a lot already.” As far as Mané is concerned, that might be the best praise he could receive. “I’m human,” he says. “To me, that’s the most important thing: to be remembered as a man.”
“When Divock Origi scored I just thought back to my childhood, watching the Champions League”
Winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019
The gifted teen was directed back to Dakar and Génération Foot, the club whose academy also boasts Papiss Demba Cissé and Ismaïla Sarr among its many graduates. None, however, have flown quite as high or far as Mané, who was encouraged to overcome his natural shyness to fully express his ability. But while the grounding he received there set him in good stead as a player, nothing prepared him for his first move abroad to Metz in January 2011 – and a European winter in eastern France.
“It was -5C but it was sunny,” says Mané, remembering his first training session at the tender age of 18. “I got kitted out and I was a bit later than the other players, who were already out on the pitch. When I came out in shorts, everyone started laughing. I thought, ‘What’s going on? They must think I’m funny.’
“I said, ‘My name is Sadio,’ like you do as a newcomer, and I didn’t last five minutes. That’s when I understood why they were laughing: the sun had tricked me. I’d imagined it was like it is in Senegal. When I got into the dressing room, my hands were freezing. I had to put them in hot water. It was so hard that day – it’s something I will never forget.”
Fortunately his feet thawed out more quickly, allowing him to stand out in a stumbling Metz team before playing a central role for Senegal at the London Olympics in 2012. A move to Salzburg followed, albeit with some reluctance at first. “I cried like a little boy because I needed to go to Austria, learn the language,” he admits. “I didn’t know anybody.” But as unhappy as he was to make the switch, he now can acknowledge, with the smile that so rarely leaves his face, “It was the spark for my career.”
Since then the honours have stacked up, both individual accolades and prizes aplenty for club and country. However, for all his desperation to leave it as a boy, there is still one place that means more to Mané than anywhere else: Bambali. It’s “a village like any other village” according to the man himself, but one that is being transformed by its most famous son. He has invested in the local school, helped build a petrol station and, most poignantly, funded the construction of a hospital that, had it existed when his father was still alive, may well have saved him. And let’s not forget those Liverpool shirts for local kids harbouring hopes of one day swapping Mané’s name on the back for their own. “I’m just trying to contribute and help these children who dream of becoming a Sadio or someone else,” he says. “It makes them happy and seeing them smile is, for me, amazing.”
From teenage runaway to runaway success, Mané is putting his influence to good use. He clearly relishes his role as a senior figure with the potential to help others and – bringing us back to where we started – that is excellent news for another set of youngsters. Matching Lewandowski’s feats would be a big ask of any player, but perhaps one area where Mané can truly emulate his predecessor is through his experience: his age and stature already make him an esteemed veteran in a baby-faced Bayern dressing room. For Nagelsmann, his “good leadership role in the team” is an obvious plus, and Mané himself is settling into the role.
“We have a very, very young squad. I think it’s the first time in my career that I’ve been part of such a young group. What really stands out to me is that they’re all hungry. They all want to develop and they’re attentive too. Training sessions are as intense as the games. It’s important as I think it makes a real difference. It’s so easy to play alongside these youngsters who are massively talented and promising.”
Follow Mané’s lead, as both players and men, and they will not go far wrong.
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
Sadio Mané has managed to squeeze every last drop out of the talent he first honed by juggling an orange as a boy – just don’t expect him to squeeze the fruit itself as well. Even though the Bayern forward loves a challenge (a point he proved again this summer by calling time on his trophy-rich adventure with Liverpool), there are limits. “I try to make him drink orange juice, but he has a bit of trouble,” grins Benjamin Pavard, one of Mané’s new team-mates in Bavaria. “He only drinks water.”
Sometimes he carries it too. Not in the sense once employed by Eric Cantona to mock his then France team-mate Didier Deschamps – supposedly an unimaginative “water carrier” on the ball – but literally. As in, he has literally been seen hauling packs of bottled water from team coach to dressing room while on Senegal duty. Hardly the job of the nation’s star forward, but Mané’s humble willingness to help out colleagues, and his dedication to clean living, are almost legendary in the game.
They are qualities that have served him well, so he is not about to change now. Especially not when Bayern’s fans want to see that same hard graft put to the service of the team. Ideally they are also hoping that the two-time African Footballer of the Year can crank the lever on a regular supply of goals, the precious commodity that Robert Lewandowski churned out with uncanny ease before his switch to Barcelona. The prolific Pole left behind a record of 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern when he departed in July – not to mention a giant hole to fill.
The task of filling it will need to be shared around. Inevitably however, as the new face in the attack, much of the responsibility has rested upon Mané’s shoulders. That’s arguably a little unfair, and a player less inclined to roll up his sleeves might be tempted to grumble. Not Mané. “Switching from one club to another is not easy,” he tells Champions Journal. “I spent eight very nice years in England: two at Southampton and six at Liverpool. Now I’m in a new country. It’s not easy because everything changes so suddenly: people, training, everything. I need to adapt. I knew that and it came as no surprise. It’s happening just the way I imagined. People here are welcoming and they’re real players. The people around the club are amazing, so I’m very happy.”
Coach Julian Nagelsmann has echoed that line about the need to adapt. More importantly, he tells us that he is not banking on a Lewandowski Mark 2, which is no doubt why he has also given Mané time on the left wing as he refines his system. “He’s very good in attack, which he was known for at Liverpool, and he can play in different positions,” says the Bayern boss. “He’s not the classic No9, like Robert Lewandowski, but he has other attributes which are good for us.”
For Lothar Matthäus, those include “speed, strength and quality”, and the club great expects the 30-year-old “to become a fan favourite among Bayern supporters”. Mané has already shown he can get German nets bulging. Club debut against Leipzig in the domestic Super Cup? Goal. Bundesliga debut in a 6-1 defeat of Frankfurt? Goal. German Cup debut versus Viktoria Köln? Goal.
Only in the Champions League did he have to wait to make a splash, but he did so in style against Plzeň on Matchday 3, helping himself to a goal, an assist and the Player of the Match award. He then backed that up with another goal against the same team on Matchday 4 – and scored one in the Camp Nou on Matchday 5 for good measure.
Though Mané has not always been consistent up front in the Bayern shade of red, he remains the man who notched 120 goals for Liverpool – many of them vital, none of them penalties – and he brings a pedigree backed up by a shiny array of medals. The Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, English League Cup, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup… Mané won them all on Merseyside. Not that he would ever boast about it.
“He is quiet, he smiles a lot and he’s very professional,” says Pavard, while Nagelsmann has been bowled over by the newcomer’s modesty. “He’s a really good spirit, a good character. He’s extremely down to earth and not the classic superstar. Instead, he wants to develop and always wants to improve. He’s humble, even though he’s won a lot already.” As far as Mané is concerned, that might be the best praise he could receive. “I’m human,” he says. “To me, that’s the most important thing: to be remembered as a man.”
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“When Divock Origi scored I just thought back to my childhood, watching the Champions League”
Winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019
The gifted teen was directed back to Dakar and Génération Foot, the club whose academy also boasts Papiss Demba Cissé and Ismaïla Sarr among its many graduates. None, however, have flown quite as high or far as Mané, who was encouraged to overcome his natural shyness to fully express his ability. But while the grounding he received there set him in good stead as a player, nothing prepared him for his first move abroad to Metz in January 2011 – and a European winter in eastern France.
“It was -5C but it was sunny,” says Mané, remembering his first training session at the tender age of 18. “I got kitted out and I was a bit later than the other players, who were already out on the pitch. When I came out in shorts, everyone started laughing. I thought, ‘What’s going on? They must think I’m funny.’
“I said, ‘My name is Sadio,’ like you do as a newcomer, and I didn’t last five minutes. That’s when I understood why they were laughing: the sun had tricked me. I’d imagined it was like it is in Senegal. When I got into the dressing room, my hands were freezing. I had to put them in hot water. It was so hard that day – it’s something I will never forget.”
Fortunately his feet thawed out more quickly, allowing him to stand out in a stumbling Metz team before playing a central role for Senegal at the London Olympics in 2012. A move to Salzburg followed, albeit with some reluctance at first. “I cried like a little boy because I needed to go to Austria, learn the language,” he admits. “I didn’t know anybody.” But as unhappy as he was to make the switch, he now can acknowledge, with the smile that so rarely leaves his face, “It was the spark for my career.”
Since then the honours have stacked up, both individual accolades and prizes aplenty for club and country. However, for all his desperation to leave it as a boy, there is still one place that means more to Mané than anywhere else: Bambali. It’s “a village like any other village” according to the man himself, but one that is being transformed by its most famous son. He has invested in the local school, helped build a petrol station and, most poignantly, funded the construction of a hospital that, had it existed when his father was still alive, may well have saved him. And let’s not forget those Liverpool shirts for local kids harbouring hopes of one day swapping Mané’s name on the back for their own. “I’m just trying to contribute and help these children who dream of becoming a Sadio or someone else,” he says. “It makes them happy and seeing them smile is, for me, amazing.”
From teenage runaway to runaway success, Mané is putting his influence to good use. He clearly relishes his role as a senior figure with the potential to help others and – bringing us back to where we started – that is excellent news for another set of youngsters. Matching Lewandowski’s feats would be a big ask of any player, but perhaps one area where Mané can truly emulate his predecessor is through his experience: his age and stature already make him an esteemed veteran in a baby-faced Bayern dressing room. For Nagelsmann, his “good leadership role in the team” is an obvious plus, and Mané himself is settling into the role.
“We have a very, very young squad. I think it’s the first time in my career that I’ve been part of such a young group. What really stands out to me is that they’re all hungry. They all want to develop and they’re attentive too. Training sessions are as intense as the games. It’s important as I think it makes a real difference. It’s so easy to play alongside these youngsters who are massively talented and promising.”
Follow Mané’s lead, as both players and men, and they will not go far wrong.
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
Sadio Mané has managed to squeeze every last drop out of the talent he first honed by juggling an orange as a boy – just don’t expect him to squeeze the fruit itself as well. Even though the Bayern forward loves a challenge (a point he proved again this summer by calling time on his trophy-rich adventure with Liverpool), there are limits. “I try to make him drink orange juice, but he has a bit of trouble,” grins Benjamin Pavard, one of Mané’s new team-mates in Bavaria. “He only drinks water.”
Sometimes he carries it too. Not in the sense once employed by Eric Cantona to mock his then France team-mate Didier Deschamps – supposedly an unimaginative “water carrier” on the ball – but literally. As in, he has literally been seen hauling packs of bottled water from team coach to dressing room while on Senegal duty. Hardly the job of the nation’s star forward, but Mané’s humble willingness to help out colleagues, and his dedication to clean living, are almost legendary in the game.
They are qualities that have served him well, so he is not about to change now. Especially not when Bayern’s fans want to see that same hard graft put to the service of the team. Ideally they are also hoping that the two-time African Footballer of the Year can crank the lever on a regular supply of goals, the precious commodity that Robert Lewandowski churned out with uncanny ease before his switch to Barcelona. The prolific Pole left behind a record of 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern when he departed in July – not to mention a giant hole to fill.
The task of filling it will need to be shared around. Inevitably however, as the new face in the attack, much of the responsibility has rested upon Mané’s shoulders. That’s arguably a little unfair, and a player less inclined to roll up his sleeves might be tempted to grumble. Not Mané. “Switching from one club to another is not easy,” he tells Champions Journal. “I spent eight very nice years in England: two at Southampton and six at Liverpool. Now I’m in a new country. It’s not easy because everything changes so suddenly: people, training, everything. I need to adapt. I knew that and it came as no surprise. It’s happening just the way I imagined. People here are welcoming and they’re real players. The people around the club are amazing, so I’m very happy.”
Coach Julian Nagelsmann has echoed that line about the need to adapt. More importantly, he tells us that he is not banking on a Lewandowski Mark 2, which is no doubt why he has also given Mané time on the left wing as he refines his system. “He’s very good in attack, which he was known for at Liverpool, and he can play in different positions,” says the Bayern boss. “He’s not the classic No9, like Robert Lewandowski, but he has other attributes which are good for us.”
For Lothar Matthäus, those include “speed, strength and quality”, and the club great expects the 30-year-old “to become a fan favourite among Bayern supporters”. Mané has already shown he can get German nets bulging. Club debut against Leipzig in the domestic Super Cup? Goal. Bundesliga debut in a 6-1 defeat of Frankfurt? Goal. German Cup debut versus Viktoria Köln? Goal.
Only in the Champions League did he have to wait to make a splash, but he did so in style against Plzeň on Matchday 3, helping himself to a goal, an assist and the Player of the Match award. He then backed that up with another goal against the same team on Matchday 4 – and scored one in the Camp Nou on Matchday 5 for good measure.
Though Mané has not always been consistent up front in the Bayern shade of red, he remains the man who notched 120 goals for Liverpool – many of them vital, none of them penalties – and he brings a pedigree backed up by a shiny array of medals. The Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, English League Cup, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup… Mané won them all on Merseyside. Not that he would ever boast about it.
“He is quiet, he smiles a lot and he’s very professional,” says Pavard, while Nagelsmann has been bowled over by the newcomer’s modesty. “He’s a really good spirit, a good character. He’s extremely down to earth and not the classic superstar. Instead, he wants to develop and always wants to improve. He’s humble, even though he’s won a lot already.” As far as Mané is concerned, that might be the best praise he could receive. “I’m human,” he says. “To me, that’s the most important thing: to be remembered as a man.”
“When Divock Origi scored I just thought back to my childhood, watching the Champions League”
Winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019
The gifted teen was directed back to Dakar and Génération Foot, the club whose academy also boasts Papiss Demba Cissé and Ismaïla Sarr among its many graduates. None, however, have flown quite as high or far as Mané, who was encouraged to overcome his natural shyness to fully express his ability. But while the grounding he received there set him in good stead as a player, nothing prepared him for his first move abroad to Metz in January 2011 – and a European winter in eastern France.
“It was -5C but it was sunny,” says Mané, remembering his first training session at the tender age of 18. “I got kitted out and I was a bit later than the other players, who were already out on the pitch. When I came out in shorts, everyone started laughing. I thought, ‘What’s going on? They must think I’m funny.’
“I said, ‘My name is Sadio,’ like you do as a newcomer, and I didn’t last five minutes. That’s when I understood why they were laughing: the sun had tricked me. I’d imagined it was like it is in Senegal. When I got into the dressing room, my hands were freezing. I had to put them in hot water. It was so hard that day – it’s something I will never forget.”
Fortunately his feet thawed out more quickly, allowing him to stand out in a stumbling Metz team before playing a central role for Senegal at the London Olympics in 2012. A move to Salzburg followed, albeit with some reluctance at first. “I cried like a little boy because I needed to go to Austria, learn the language,” he admits. “I didn’t know anybody.” But as unhappy as he was to make the switch, he now can acknowledge, with the smile that so rarely leaves his face, “It was the spark for my career.”
Since then the honours have stacked up, both individual accolades and prizes aplenty for club and country. However, for all his desperation to leave it as a boy, there is still one place that means more to Mané than anywhere else: Bambali. It’s “a village like any other village” according to the man himself, but one that is being transformed by its most famous son. He has invested in the local school, helped build a petrol station and, most poignantly, funded the construction of a hospital that, had it existed when his father was still alive, may well have saved him. And let’s not forget those Liverpool shirts for local kids harbouring hopes of one day swapping Mané’s name on the back for their own. “I’m just trying to contribute and help these children who dream of becoming a Sadio or someone else,” he says. “It makes them happy and seeing them smile is, for me, amazing.”
From teenage runaway to runaway success, Mané is putting his influence to good use. He clearly relishes his role as a senior figure with the potential to help others and – bringing us back to where we started – that is excellent news for another set of youngsters. Matching Lewandowski’s feats would be a big ask of any player, but perhaps one area where Mané can truly emulate his predecessor is through his experience: his age and stature already make him an esteemed veteran in a baby-faced Bayern dressing room. For Nagelsmann, his “good leadership role in the team” is an obvious plus, and Mané himself is settling into the role.
“We have a very, very young squad. I think it’s the first time in my career that I’ve been part of such a young group. What really stands out to me is that they’re all hungry. They all want to develop and they’re attentive too. Training sessions are as intense as the games. It’s important as I think it makes a real difference. It’s so easy to play alongside these youngsters who are massively talented and promising.”
Follow Mané’s lead, as both players and men, and they will not go far wrong.
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
Sadio Mané playing for his new club (top left)
