Egypt’s Salah and Senegal’s Mane only the latest Europe-based stars to grab attention at Africa Cup of Nations

CAIRO: Rightly or wrongly, the Africa Cup of Nations final has been framed as the clash of the Liverpool superstars: Egypt’s Mohamed Salah against Senegal’s Sadio Mane.

The club’s fans have revelled in the match-up and even Liverpool’s official website has jumped on the bandwagon, posting a photo of the two on social media with the caption: “Proud of you both.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, noted that one of his players will return ecstatic and the other dejected.

This rivalry looks set to run, with the two nations facing each other in the final African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

While recent attention has gone to the two teammates and international rivals, the Africa Cup of Nations has in its modern history always shone a spotlight on European-based African superstars.

The current competition has already witnessed a strong focus on some of the best Arab players abroad, such as Salah, Manchester City’s Algerian Riyad Mahrez, PSG’s Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and even the absent Hakim Ziyech of Chelsea and Morocco.

In its 31-edition history, the Africa Cup of Nations has thrown up heroes who have either gone on to play on the world’s biggest stage or, as is increasingly the case, have made Europe their home.

As captains, either Salah or Mane will step up to receive the trophy on Sunday night. In 2019, it was Mahrez — a Premier League star with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and previously with Leicester City — who stole the limelight.

But one of the first names that come to mind when talking about African players is Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba.

The Chelsea legend held the title of top African scorer in the English Premier League with 104 goals — a record since broken by Salah — and made