Star Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane has wasted no time fitting in with his new teammates, revealing he brought his own lederhosen with him to the Bavarian capital this summer.
Speaking with Bayern Munich’s member magazine 51 in an interview published on Tuesday, Mane said he had held onto a pair of traditional leather trousers given to him during his time at Red Bull Salzburg in the hopes of one day wearing them at Munich’s famous Oktoberfest.
“Unfortunately not yet, but I’m really looking forward to it,” Mane said when asked if he had ever made an appearance at the 222-year-old festival.
Photo: Reuters
“I even have lederhosen at home from my time in Salzburg. I kept them because I always liked wearing them and I’m generally very interested in other cultures,” he said.
“I’ve actually been to the city [Munich] several times with friends, and once we were at the Allianz Arena, at a [UEFA] Champions League game against Arsenal. At that time, I simply couldn’t imagine playing there myself one day,” Mane added.
Mane, 30, is not only to feature front and center when Bayern Munich make their annual pilgrimage to the festival this September, but he has already shown how crucial he will be to the German record champions’ on-field plans in the 2022-2023 season.
Mane scored a goal in Bayern’s 5-3 DFL-Supercup win over RB Leipzig on Saturday, his first competitive outing for the club.
His arrival in Munich has helped assuage the concerns of Bayern supporters worried about the departure of Robert Lewandowski as the club pushes for a record-extending 11th straight Bundesliga title.
The two-time African Player of the Year sent out a stark warning after the game, saying that Bayern “can do better,” despite lifting their 10th Supercup trophy.
“It’s only the beginning of the season. We still have time to work towards perfection,” Mane said.
The Senegalese scored 120 goals in 269 appearances for Liverpool, where he won several trophies including the Champions League and English Premier League.
His knack for scoring crucial goals in big games — including a stunning swivel-kick past Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to help see Liverpool past Bayern in 2019 — will come in handy as Munich look to replace Lewandowski’s stellar output in front of goal.
The Pole scored 344 in 375 games over eight seasons for Bayern, although Munich believe Lewandowski’s departure could be a blessing in disguise.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann said this year’s Bayern were “a little harder to work out” than previous incarnations, while chief executive Oliver Kahn said Mane’s arrival made the club less predictable.
“You could see how many opportunities we had [and] how surprising we can be,” Kahn said.
Mane leaned heavily on the advice of former Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara, his teammate at Liverpool, when deciding to make the move to the Bundesliga.
“Before my transfer, I spoke with Thiago. He told me everything about the team and the city. Everyone knows Bayern’s identity,” Mane said.
“For me, this ‘Mia san mia’ means that the team always comes first. It’s the togetherness that counts, not the individual. That’s what makes FC Bayern so special,” he said referring to the team’s motto “We are who we are.”
Not only has Mane brought with him blistering pace, a constant goal threat and experience at the game’s highest levels, but Bayern’s new No. 17 has swelled Munich’s supporter ranks by about 17 million.
“My country is made up of 17 million football mad people and they’re all Bayern fans now,” Mane said. “I think you’ll see a lot of Senegal flags in the Allianz Arena this season.”
Bayern Munich start the 60th Bundesliga season on Friday night away at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Chinese pair Liang Wenbo and Li Hang on Tuesday received lifetime bans from snooker for match-fixing after a “heart-breaking” corruption scandal rocked the sport. In total, 10 Chinese players were handed bans of varying lengths by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). Lu Ning, Zhao Xintong, Yan Bingtao, Chen Zifan, Zhang Jiankang, Bai Langning, Zhao Jianbo and Chang Bingyu were the other players suspended. Yan, the 2021 Masters champion, has been banned until December 2027 after his initial seven-and-a-half-year suspension was reduced following his early admissions and guilty plea. Former UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong is to serve a 20-month suspension, reduced
Iga Swiatek on Saturday said it would be “disrespectful” to her vanquished opponents to talk about her propensity for winning bagel sets after thrashing Wang Xinyu without losing a game at the French Open. The world No. 1 won 6-0, 6-0 in just 51 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier to reach the last 16. Across 57 matches in 17 Grand Slam appearances in her young career, Swiatek has already won 19 sets to love. Yet she knows how it feels to be on the wrong end of a bagel, having lost three sets at majors 6-0 herself, although all of those came across
Although basketball fans in Taiwan are looking forward to seeing Dwight Howard play next season, the former NBA superstar said that could be “difficult” due to the pay cut the Taoyuan Leopards have proposed in contract negotiations. TVBS on Wednesday reported that the eight-time NBA All-Star and the Leopards, the franchise he played for in the T1 League last season, have reached an impasse over salary, which reduces the chance local fans would get to see the star next season. “I was offered a contract which was 65 percent less than they gave me the first time I came to Taiwan, and
SEMI-FINAL SHOWDOWN: Djokovic said that he is looking forward to facing off against Alcaraz after the Spaniard beat Tsitsipas, saying it should be his biggest challenge so far Beatriz Haddad Maia yesterday became the first Brazilian woman to make a Grand Slam semi-final in 55 years after beating Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur at Roland Garros. World No. 14 Haddad Maia came through against seventh-ranked Jabeur 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1. The 27-year-old left-hander follows in the footsteps of seven-time major winner Maria Bueno who was the last Brazilian woman in the semi-finals of a major at the US Open 55 years ago. Bueno, who passed away in 2018, made the last four in Paris in 1966 before the advent of the Open era. “Ons is not easy to play against, you have to be
RSS