Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane made history on Saturday night when they played key roles as Liverpool beat the Tottenham Hotspurs in Madrid to win the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League.

The duo became the first to win the trophy from Egypt and Senegal. Two other African players also won medals :Cameroon’s Joel Matip and Naby Keita of Guinea.

Keita also became the first Guinean to win the UCL while Matip followed in the footsteps of Samuel Eto’o (three-time winner) and Geremi Njitap (two-time winner).

Social media in both countries continues to lavish the African players with praise after a Salah penalty and late Divock Origi goal ensured that Liverpool secured their sixth Champions League trophy.

The records show that prior to the Madrid 2019 final, eighteen Africans have won the trophy. The first was Zimbabwean goalie Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1983/1984 season, incidentally with Liverpool.

Since then, clubs in Spain, England, Portugal, Italy, France, and Holland have all had Africans playing different roles in their UCL triumphs. The most recent winner was Achraf Hakimi of Morocco who won with Real Madrid last year (beating Liverpool).

In the case of Mane, the president of Senegal, Macky Sall, joined the congratulatory group with a personally signed post on Twitter.