Running down the wing, hear the Kopites sing. Mane! Since that very first moment he cut inside at the Emirates, darting past Nacho Monreal and Calum Chambers, before thundering past Petr Cech and leaping into Jurgen Klopp’s arms, Liverpool fans were hooked.
The first marquee signing of the Klopp era at Anfield, joining from Southampton in a £33.5m deal, the Reds side Sadio Mane joined in the summer of 2016 are very different to the one he departs today. Then not even competing in Europe, it was the Senegalese who scored the goals to help fire Liverpool back into the Champions League for only the second time since 2009.
It was the Senegalese scoring goal after goal as Klopp turned doubters from believers and his team marched on Kiev to lock horns with Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final. And it was the Senegalese who continued scoring so many crucial goals in this glorious chapter of Reds history as, to paraphrase one legendary manager, they conquered the bloody world.
