MANE... THE CENTURION 100th British goal is step closer to title
NORWICH CITY 0 LIVERPOOL 1
STORM DENNIS tried its best and so did Daniel Farke’s players, but it seems nothing can stop Liverpool’s relentless assault on the Premier League.
A swirling wind and the massed ranks of relegationthreatened opponents resolutely blocked the Reds’ path at Carrow Road.
But just when the finishing line was moving on to the horizon and a frustrating evening in Norfolk beckoned, up stepped Jurgen Klopp’s man-for-all-seasons, Sadio Mane.
The title-winners elect had probed and pressed, harried and chased like their lives depended upon it, but met with dogged resistance until the 78th minute when the bottom-placed team were finally broken.
And it was the Senegalese – coming off the bench on the hour to be named man of the match – who finally did the trick with his 100th goal in British football.
Jordan Henderson’s long pass just eluded Christoph Zimmermann and picked out the striker.
Mane brought it down in one movement and then, with his second, lashed it in at the near post to ensure Klopp’s men would end the day a massive 25 points clear at the top of the Premier
League. Norwich’s players surrounded referee Stuart Attwell, convinced that the forward’s outstretched hand had pushed Zimmermann as he challenged for the ball.
VAR studied the incident, but saw nothing wrong and yet another hurdle was surmounted.
But this was far from the walkover that the league placings had suggested at the outset. The hosts’ game plan almost paid off.
At times, Norwich’s centrebacks were camped so deep they could have chatted with keeper Tim Krul without raising their voices.
Every now and again, Farke’s side threatened. Todd Cantwell would pop up on the left, unmarked. Teemu Pukki would lurk. But the decisive moment never arrived.
It should have. It really should. Ten minutes before the interval. A punt upfield looked to have been overhit. However, the ball was caught by the wind and held up long enough for Lukas Rupp to collect.
The German took forward and drew Alisson.
Pukki was in support and Rupp, making his third start since joining in the January transfer window, decided that allowing the club’s leading goalscorer to make his mark was the better option.
He played the short pass sideways to his colleague.
But Alisson had secondguessed what he was going to do and stuck out a hand to paw the ball away from the striker’s feet.
Krul had to be alert on several occasions, but the first time he was truly tested was just before the hour.
Naby Keita, who started ahead of Fabinho, decided that all the pretty football in the world wasn’t a match for
it a good old-fashioned thump from distance, but Krul tipped it over the crossbar.
Seconds later, Mo Salah took a ball out of the wind with supreme skill, twisted this way and that and halfconnected with a cross-shot that the Canaries keeper did well to keep out.
With Keita anticipating the rebound correctly, the ex-Newcastle man outdid himself with a block a few yards from his own goal.
The nearmisses on Krul’s goal intensified.
But from one
Norwich break engineered by
Cantwell, Alex Tettey appeared.
The midfielder miscontrolled, but decided to shoot anyway and caught Alisson by surprise, however, the ball cannoned into the upright.
Five minutes later, Mane struck – and Liverpool march inexorably onwards.