You shouldn’t arrive late at the stadium. By scoring, after less than two minutes of play, Algeria’s first goal in the victory against Sudan (3-0), this Wednesday, during the first day of Group E of the African Cup of Nations, Riyad Mahrez showed his partners the way to follow…
But the native of Sarcelles, who scored the fastest goal of the 2025 edition, has above all entered the history of the competition a little further. Author of a double, he became the top scorer in the history of his country at the CAN.
With now 8 goals scored in the African Cup of Nations, he is ahead of Lakhdar Belloumi (6 goals). His teammate Baghdad Bounedjah, present on Wednesday but remained silent, is not far away with 5 goals. Mahrez therefore found the net during four different CANs… like Rabah Madjer.
A record under the eyes of Zinedine Zidane
In total, the 34-year-old striker brings his total in the Algeria jersey to 35 goals in 107 caps. He came out in the 78th minute to deserved ovations from the Rabat stadium and under the gaze of icon Zinedine Zidane, who came to support his son Luca, starting goalkeeper and author of numerous saves.
“It’s always good to score, but my main objective is to help the team win matches,” underlined the hero of the day at the microphone of beIN Sports. You shouldn’t throw everything away when things are bad or burst into flames when things are better. We will have to raise the level in the second match. »
