Riyad Mahrez said his brace in Algeria’s Africa Cup of Nations opener against Sudan was not about answering his critics, having become his nation’s all-time leading scorer at the event.

Mahrez got Algeria’s first two goals as they beat Sudan 3-0 in their first match in Group E on Wednesday, with Ibrahim Maza rounding off the scoring late on.

The former Manchester City winger has now scored eight goals at AFCON, overtaking Lakhdar Belloumi (six goals) to become Algeria’s most prolific player at the event.

He has scored four goals and provided two assists in his last four appearances for the national team in all competitions — matching the total of goal involvements he produced across his 19 matches before that (two goals and four assists).

Those previous performances led to the Al-Ahli star being heavily criticised in the build-up to this year’s tournament, but Mahrez said he was able to shut out the negative comments.

“This wasn’t about answering criticism,” Mahrez told reporters. “I’m used to it. My reply is to concentrate on my game on the pitch.

“We came in with a clear plan to play without overthinking, to win this one and the rest of our group matches to make the path easier.”

He knew. We knew. The players knew. That was going in. #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 pic.twitter.com/FqDT4HTqyI

— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) December 24, 2025

Algeria won AFCON for the second time in 2019 but then failed to register a single victory at the 2021 and 2023 tournaments, crashing out in the group stage on both occasions.

In 2021, they started their campaign with a goalless draw against Sierra Leone, before drawing 1-1 with Angola to kickstart the 2023 edition.

But Mahrez was delighted to see them learn their lesson from those shortcomings and make a positive start this time around.

“The most important thing was to start with a win,” Mahrez said. “The last two AFCONs, we didn’t start good. Today, we really wanted to make it happen and we did.

“The focus turns immediately to Burkina Faso. We need to raise our game and be more stable for the next match.”