Recently, we reflected on Bouna Sarr’s decision to reject Senegal for France. Today we look at his performance in a UEFA Europa League semifinal clash with RB Salzburg. The Marseille right-back was present and ever ready to pitch himself to Didier Deschamps, the French national team coach, as he represented his club in a competitive tournament. He was part of the team that won the first leg 2-0 and was hoping to replicate that kind of performance today. Marseille were rock solid at the back today thanks to Sarr and his teammates but the second half was a bit challenging for Marseille.

Amadou Haidara from Mali started off a Salzburg comeback by scoring from an amazing run that saw him finish past Pele after flying past 6 players. 1-0 at 53 minutes and Salzburg became dangerous. It was not long until they piled more pressure on Marseille for the second. This time, it was Bouna Sarr who was unlucky to score an own goal in the 65th minute. The scoreline was 2-0 at the end of the 90 minutes which meant that the tie was level on aggregate 2-2 so it needed to be settled in extra-time or eventually penalties if no team had scored. Lucky enough, the former happened as substitute Rolando came on to volley home from a corner kick in the 115th minute. Salzburg were gutted by this blow and did not make a difference in the end as the aforementioned Mali player got sent off. Marseille are through to the final thanks to Rolando’s goal. Another African born player who plays for Portugal.