Sadio Mane did what he did best on Saturday and that was scoring for a team in red, except it wasn’t for Liverpool.
The Senegalese forward celebrated his first goal for new club Bayern Munich in a thrilling 5-3 victory over Bundesliga rivals RB Leipzig in the DFL-Supercup. The goal was typical Mane as he found himself in the right place at the right time to get on the end of Serge Gnabry ’s low cross to fire home.
The strike will certainly be odd viewing for Liverpool supporters having become so accustomed to seeing the former Southampton star doing that at Anfield. In his six years, Mane netted an astounding 120 goals for the club - 23 of those coming last season.
Those contributions saw Ian Wright claim that his exit could potentially harm Liverpool going forwards. Speaking before Liverpool’s Community Shield victory over Manchester City on Saturday, Wright said: “It’s a massive loss.
“The fact is I was talking about it, 20 goals a season for six seasons, Liverpool with Diaz and Nunez whether it’s with Firmino - who didn’t score as many goals - and we know Salah kicks in, they’re going to need to find 20 goals a season because that’s what they’ve just got rid of.
“So you’re hoping Diaz who’s just came in and done brilliantly well, we’re excited about him. Hopefully Nunez can come in and done well for Liverpool as well, so they’ve got to get that 20 goals back from somewhere because it’s so close between these two teams you need those goals.”
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Nunez - signed as a Mane replacement - will of course be doing his best to match the contributions of the Senegalese at Anfield. He has enjoyed a bright start to life as a Liverpool player.
Just like Mane, the Uruguayan hitman found the net against RB Leipzig during pre-season with a four-goal haul. He also found himself on the scoresheet against Man City - his brave header sealing the Community Shield win for Liverpool late on.
It is certainly a promising start for Nunez but he still has a long way to go to match Mane. After all, the now 30-year-old struck double figures in each of his six seasons on Merseyside - four of those seeing him get over 20 goals in all competitions.
Nunez has managed double figures in each of the last three seasons too - the 23-year-old plundering an eye-watering 34 goals for Benfica last term. It’s just another 20-odd to go until he can say that he has seamlessly succeeded Mane at Anfield.
Should he do that, then Wright’s worries will certainly be allayed and well and truly consigned to history.
