MANE AGAINST BOYS
Sadio hat-trick and Salah’s 30th of the season inspire Liverpool
SADIO MANE produced a magnificent hat-trick as Liverpool ran riot in Portugal. The Senegal international became only the second player in the club’s history to score three goals away from home in Europe, as Jurgen Klopp (left) and his side announced themselves on the European stage.
And Mane was delighted with his treble, especially the fact that he saved the best for last.
He said: “We needed to play as a team and that’s what we did. We played great football and scored five goals. I enjoyed the fifth goal the most. It was not
an easy game, even if we scored five. We played great football from the beginning to the end.”
The Reds should already be through to the last eight of the Champions League with this performance.
But the manner in which they brushed aside shell-shocked Portuguese opponents will have them believing they can go further.
So, too, will the fact that this five-star performance took their goal tally this season to 99 in all competitions. And it is that firepower which backs the claim of boss Klopp that his team are not there to make up the numbers.
The Reds were magnificent, with their front three of Mane, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino again on fire and the latter two adding a goal each.
Team-mate James Milner praised Mane, saying: “Sadio did a great job for us. People see his flair and the goals he scores, but he really works hard, too.”