Jurgen Klopp has hailed Sadio Mane’s performance after the forward scored a match-winning brace to help Liverpool beat Man City and reach the FA Cup final.
The Senegalese has predominantly been used as a striker since the signing of Luis Diaz in January, scoring eight since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations alone. Boasting 18 goals in all competitions, the 30-year-old’s brace means he has also netted four goals against Man City this season.
Taking advantage of a goalkeeping error to double the Reds’ lead after Ibrahima Konate’s opener, he then volleyed home Liverpool’s second on the stroke of half-time. And there was one thing in particular Klopp loved about his performance when speaking to reporters after the final whistle.
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“He (Mane) played an incredible game. He was the first player to start the press so it was intense for him as well,” he said. “He scored and I love it.
“I don’t like the goalie had some criticism for it. It’s not about that because it was like the situation Ederson had a week ago. These things happen and it can happen to Ali. It’s about his movement and desire to get there. It was really great.
“The other was obviously proper football until the final pass with the little chip and the volley. It was a great goal.”
Klopp made seven changes for the victory over Man City with Mane one of a number of players recalled to the starting XI alongside Fabinho. The midfielder had a poor game by his standards last weekend at the Etihad but was back to his best at Wembley on Saturday.
And that fact was not lost on the Reds boss when reflecting on his side’s intense fixture list, pointing out how the Brazilian’s performance had highlighted how his squad are benefitting from rotation at the business end of the season.
“Thiago, top performance, but the whole midfield, that was football!” he said. “Naby, wow. Fab, compare the two games at City and today and you can see how important it is to give different players a rest in specific moments.
“They don’t always deliver and it because we know them so well, it must be a physical reason so we try to figure that out. He didn’t play in midweek and then could play today. It gave midfield a nice rhythm today. A lot of top class individual performances.
“At City I thought we were slightly lucky, more lucky than City that we got a point there. We were not 100% ourselves because of City’s quality of course, but we had stuff to do by ourselves and we stepped up today.
“We played much better than we did at City and that’s why we deserved the win.”
He continued: “It always makes a difference (making changes). Most of the time it works for the good. We needed it.
“We have 10 games left for sure which is already an insane number and can qualify for an 11th game, which will be difficult as well. It’s incredibly tough but it’s nice. It’s our situation.
“As long as we can make changes, we have to make changes and use the full quality of the squad and the individual as well. It’s incredibly difficult to play on Wednesday and then a Saturday and then Tuesday and Sunday. We go again Wednesday bam, bam, bam.
“We have to try to find line-ups and formations to be in each game as recovered as possible but we need rhythm as possible. That’s the dream.
“As long as the players are fit, it’s about making decisions before the game and during the game as well. The decision-making from the boys, they have to be on top of their game and we have to be on top of our game as well.”
