A couple of days after Cristiano Ronaldo played his last match for Manchester United, Sadio Mane was limping off the pitch at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.
There were only 20 minutes on the clock at Bayern’s Bundesliga meeting with Werder Bremen. The bad news arrived at a pause. It turned out Mane had sustained a calf injury far more serious than first thought.
It would turn out to be a significant breaking point in his difficult relationship with Bayern. Mane, whose move from the German champions to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League was completed on Tuesday, might now reflect on the shared timing of their ruptures with previous employers when he sits down in Riyadh with Ronaldo, now a team-mate and a fellow star in a league acquiring some of the most medalled footballers in the world.
Mane and CR7 can share many stories. There are the fall-outs at their previous clubs, teams they had joined amid such high expectations.