Your morning Liverpool digest for Tuesday, April 3.
Thomas Tuchel makes Sadio Mane 'no doubt' claim after Liverpool icon questioned
New Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel has reiterated his faith in former Liverpool star Sadio Mane as the attacker continues to adapt to life in the Bundesliga.
The Senegalese icon has come under fire in recent weeks for his performances at the German giants. Julian Nagelsmann, who orchestrated a move from Liverpool to Bavaria, was sacked on the eve of their return to club football from the international break.
As a result, the former Chelsea boss was installed to steer the club forward ahead of their title challenge with Borussia Dortmund and Union Berlin. Mane was forced to miss the World Cup with a leg injury but had made a bright start scoring three goals in as many games at the start.
JOHN ALDRIDGE: If Pep Guardiola had done Liverpool celebration against me I would have ended up with a 10-game ban
READ MORE: Liverpool striker continues hot streak but late drama denies victory
He added a further three goals and assisted three times up until the World Cup break - but has found the return difficult registering just one assist.
But the German head coach, who knows Mane well from his exploits at Anfield, has tipped him to turn around fortunes.
"I know him well from England. There's no question that Sadio is an absolutely top player," Tuchel said. "He scored 20, 30 goals every year for Liverpool and was an absolute key player there. His quality is beyond any doubt.
Read the full story, here.
If Pep Guardiola had done Liverpool celebration against me I would have ended up with a 10-game ban
It was always going to be a big ask to win at Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.
The eventual scoreline won't have come as a major surprise to many fans based on recent performances, but we actually got off to a good start in an away game for a change when Mohamed Salah opened the scoring. A lot of the talk ahead of the game was about the loss of Erling Haaland, but that ended up making little difference in the end as Julian Alvarez impressed. I think Jurgen was very bold to go with the two in midfield, which ultimately backfired, as they continued to go one-versus-one against Robertson and Trent as we pressed their backline to stop them getting out.
City started getting more space in the second half and when they got the two early goals after the restart, it was game over. One of the goals they scored, they completed around 20 passes and not one tackle from a Liverpool player went in. They walked it in, which just about shows you where we’re at.
City have spent billions of pounds as a club, so we knew this was going to be a challenging contest. There's a reason they are where they are, that’s what money gets you. But despite all their quality, we made Jack Grealish look like Lionel Messi. He is certainly not close to being that. It's not only quality that separates Messi and Grealish, only one of them doesn't go to ground when being tackled. When you’re that good, and for £100million he should be, you can spoil your reputation by constantly looking for fouls. I have to say Gakpo should have got booked for that too as you can’t do that. We are better than that.
Read the full story, here.
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