by Antony Gitonga

Liverpool and Senegal international Sadio Mane vies for the ball with Manchester City and Algeria international Riyad Mahrez during their group stage match.

Africa and the world you better be ready for this clash of the titans, The African Cup Of Nations Final between Senegal (lions of Terange) and Algeria(Desert Foxes).The game is widely viewed as a showdown between two premier league superstars and rivals with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane both of which have three goals to their name.This will be a repeat of their group stage clash in which Algeria won 1-0 but will it be business as usual? Algeria has gone all the way unbeaten in the tournament while Senegal’s only defeat came in the hands of their next opponents.Both teams will be appearing for their third and second final respectively with The Terange lions appearing for their first final back in 2002 where they finished runners up after Cameroon.The desert foxes will be looking to add to their trophy cabinet a cup they last won in 1990.With Sadio Mane’s European success with his club Liverpool, he will be looking to match that with his country. Riyad Mahrez on the hand also had a very successful season with his club Manchester City winning a treble(community shield, callabao cup and the premier league).Senegal have been almost solid winning three consecutive matches 1-0, beating Kenya and Tanzania 3-0 and 2-0 respectively with their only conceded goal of the tournament coming against Algeria. The Desert Foxes on the other hand didn’t concede in the group stages but had to rely on penalties to beat Ivory Coast at the quarters. So who will it be? I guess only after the 90 minutes on Friday we can answer that, but whichever way it goes it will be a classical AFCON final.