Six minutes later, it appeared to be game over when the tenacious Mane turned provider from the left, stealing possession from Issoufou Dayo on the byline and teeing up Idrissa Gueye to poke in a second.
Mendy, who missed the first two group games after testing positive for Covid-19 but has been an ever-present since, had conceded just once in three matches prior to the semi-final and so a 2-0 buffer felt robust for Aliou Cisse’s men.
The Chelsea goalkeeper remained alert having made a couple of decent interventions during the course of the game, though he could do little to react to Ibrahim Blati Toure’s instinctive finish with eight minutes the remaining as the ball cannoned in off the midfielder’s knee.
In truth, Burkina Faso were unable to properly build up a head of steam before the deciding goal arrived on the counter-attack, with Mane running clear and providing a typically clinical deft finish to seal Senegal’s place in the final. Their opponents will be unveiled tomorrow when Cameroon take on Egypt in Yaounde.