Jurgen Klopp was forced to weigh up his winning mentality and his diplomatic instinct as he finalised his Liverpool team selection ahead of the trip to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
The Reds were without Mohamed Salah for Sunday's quarter-final clash as he suffered a slight recurrence of his recent foot injury during Wednesday's Premier League win at Arsenal. "Mo felt his foot again a little bit after the game, so we have to see what we do with that," Klopp said on Friday.
Even in the absence of their top goalscorer, Liverpool have a wealth of attacking talent including Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and, as of the January transfer window, Luiz Diaz. With their pursuit of the quadruple on the line at the City Ground, many fans expected the forward trident to face Forest would be comprised of three of those four players.
As it happened, only Firmino and Jota were named in the starting XI as Harvey Elliott was given a berth on the wing in place of Diaz. This was perhaps understandable as Klopp famously takes his time when blooding in new recruits such as the Colombian, while he is also a huge admirer of Elliott's having labelled him an "incredible talent".
What was far more surprising was Mane's omission from not only the starting line-up but also the matchday squad. Speaking ahead of kick-off, Klopp made no mention of the Senegalese picking up a knock and instead suggested he has been handed a rest ahead of what is a crucial international break for his country.
The Liverpool manager said: "Sadio, they have some massive games coming up. Hopefully it works out." Klopp's admission led to speculation he had left Mane out so Senegal would not be at a disadvantage when they take on Salah's Egypt for a spot at the 2022 World Cup.
Was Jurgen Klopp right to leave out Sadio Mane? Have your say in the comments...
The two nations - who met in this year's Africa Cup of Nations final, with Senegal prevailing on penalties - are due to face off over two legs on Friday and next Tuesday with a place at the Qatar tournament on the line. Adding to his pre-match comments, Klopp strongly hinted he had left Mane out for the sake of fairness while speaking after Jota fired Liverpool to a narrow victory over Forest.
"It was clear that we would not use Sadio in the game either because the game is too big in Africa and I would not be the one to be doing things like this that could be misunderstood," the German said.
Klopp's decision to omit Mane in light of Salah's absence could easily have backfired had the Reds suffered an upset at the hands of Forest. Fortunately for the Merseysiders, Jota was on hand to grab his 19th goal of the season - and ensure Klopp did not pay the price for his diplomacy.
