'If I die it's my fault' - Mane makes stunning admission following AFCON trauma

The Senegal captain, and eventual winner of the tournament, sensationally revealed that Liverpool tried to block him from playing in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

The forward, who recently signed for Bayern Munich in a £35million deal, had a horrendous collision with Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha in the round of 16, hitting the ground face first.

The goalkeeper picked up a red card for the head-on-head challenge, and was later seen on a stretcher, Mane though, kept playing and eventually scored to win the match.

After his goal though, he then hit the ground again, before being substituted off with a suspected concussion.

Mane went against his club Liverpool's instructions to play on for the rest of the tournament.

The Senegal star claims the Reds wrote to FIFA saying a concussion needs five days rest, which would have taken him out of a quarter-final tie against Equatorial Guinea.

However, Mane was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make the match, telling the team's coach and president that he would sign a contract taking responsibility for his own death.

Speaking to Pro Direct Soccer France, Mane said: "I think we made sacrifices during the CAN [Cup of Nations], I remember when I got injured against Cape Verde, the concussion sickness, it was… I never talked about that… I'm gonna talk about it today, it was the hardest moment for me.

"Even if we had cases of COVID, field conditions, it was hot, the altitude, for me that was not the problem, the problem is that they were trying to change game times for us.

"But when I had the concussion, I think it was when I went back to the hotel and came back, I was scared.

"But afterwards the worst thing is that Liverpool had put pressure on the federation, so they wrote a letter to FIFA saying that the concussion needs five days rest.

"I wasn't supposed to play, so if you calculate, I wasn't supposed to play the quarter-finals, and there was our national team doctor, he had to follow the rules. Five days!

"And when they told me that 'you aren't supposed to play the quarter-finals' I was in my room, I had to let the coach [Aliou Cisse] know. I immediately called the coach, I said 'coach, you know the doctor wanted to apply… for me it was out of the question, you have to put me in the starting 11 because I'm going to play.

"He said: 'OK we'll try to talk to the doctor' and I called the president of the federation, I called Abdoulaye Sow, I told him we have to plan a meeting because for me it's important to play at the CAN. The CAN for me is… I could even give up my life!"

Mane then incredibly revealed he was prepared to sign a contract taking responsibility for his own life, in order to play in the last eight tie.

The 30-year-old eventually did feature, winning the game 3-1, before scoring the decisive penalty to beat Mohamed Salah's Egypt in the final.

Mane said: "I was ready, they had a meeting for one hour, the president of the federation, Abdoulaye Sow, the coach and the doctor, I said 'Listen to me, I know I shouldn't play, no problem, Liverpool did this and that, now give me a contract to sign. I want to take my responsibility, I will sign, if I die, they just have to say it's my fault, no one [else's] fault.

"The coach was there, the federation president was there and I told the doctor and he said 'No that's it, it's out of the question, you weren't supposed to play, you won't play'.

"I said 'No, no, no, that's out of the question,' it was 1 or 2am, everyone panicked, the coach and the doctor panicked, everybody did!

"And I came and said 'Listen coach, I know that even you are scared, for me there is no problem'. He writes a letter that says I played by my own will in case I die or whatever happens, it was me who insisted.

"Everyone was like this! [Gestures head in hands] And it was tense! Finally they said no, it's no possible, I was ready to do it, so then the doc said 'OK, we have to try and go in the morning and do our scan, the day of the match'.

"In the morning I left the hotel, I went to do the scan, we checked it, we sent it to the CAF, CAF also checked with the doctor, there was nothing, so the doctor said 'OK, now you can play'.

"Because to see me sign a paper it will be complicated for him as well, but the president of the federation was there and everyone else, they understood that I was going to play, and Alhamdulillah ['Praise be to God' in Arabic], everything went well."