Mane and Saka share warm embrace at Ballon d'Or awards ceremony

Sadio Mane whispers mystery message into the ear of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka… as the pair share a heartfelt embrace at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony

  • Sadio Mane and Bukayo Saka crossed paths at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony
  • The pair shared a lengthy hug on the red carpet before the ceremony started
  • Mane appeared to be whispering a message into Saka’s ear as they hugged
  • The details of the message remain unknown, but Mane’s words left Saka smiling 

Sadio Mane and Bukayo Saka shared a heartfelt embrace at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Paris on Monday night.

Mane, who now plays for Bayern Munich, attended the event after a strong campaign at Liverpool last term which put him in the running for the main award, while Saka was joined by Arsenal Women’s duo Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema.

Ahead of the ceremony, Mane and Saka crossed paths and had a lengthy hug. Mane appeared to be whispering a message into Saka’s ear throughout.

Sadio Mane (L) and Bukayo Saka (R) shared a lengthy hug ahead of the Ballon d’Or awards

France Football sent out a tweet alongside the video of Mane and Saka’s heartfelt embrace

The details of the message remain unknown, but Mane’s words left Saka with a smile on his face as the pair went their separate ways.

France Football subsequently tweeted a video of them hugging, alongside the caption: ‘Sadio Mane x BukayoSaka87’, and a smiling face with hearts emoji.

Both men were in good spirits, and Mane’s night would only get better as he went on to win the first ever Socrates Award which has been established to recognise the humanitarian work of players away from the pitch.

The award is named after former Brazil international Socrates, who co-founded the Corinthians Democracy movement in the 1980s to oppose the military government in Brazil at the time.

Mane received the gong for his charity work in his homeland of Senegal, and then finished second in the Ballon d’Or rankings behind Karim Benzema.

Mane went on to win the Socrates Award later in the evening for his charity work in Senegal

Meanwhile, Saka made the shortlist for the Kopa Trophy – given to the best under-21 player on the planet. He finished in eighth place, with his international team-mate Jude Bellingham coming fourth and Barcelona’s Gavi winning the award.

Saka has already backed up his performances from last season, scoring the winning goal in each of his last three matches for Arsenal against Liverpool, Bodo/Glimt and Leeds respectively.

He has played a key role in moving the Gunners four points clear at the top of the table in the early stages of the Premier League season.

Whether Mane was potentially trying to convince him to move to his former club Liverpool is unclear, but the 21-year-old seems happy at Arsenal for now, and Mikel Arteta revealed earlier this month that the club are trying to tie him down to a new deal at the Emirates Stadium. 




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