Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp: Sadio Mane is a world class player

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Wednesday Jan 24, 2018. 15:30

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists his Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane is back to his best this season.

Klopp was speaking after the Lions of Teranga international hit the ground running this year, following his recent impressive displays.

Mane has netted twice in 2018 including a thunderous strike against Manchester City as the Reds ended their unbeaten run.

Although the Reds suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat against Swansea City on Monday, Klopp has reserved praise for the ‘Smiling Assassin’.

“At Burnley he scored a fantastic goal but it was not a world-class game of Sadio,” Klopp told club website.

“Since then it has clicked and he is now really back. He works hard, he protects the ball pretty well, no risky dribbling, and he is a world-class player.

“The two goals he scored [against Burnley and City], I don’t know a lot of players who could have scored these goals.

“Of course we had talks. I cannot tell you what I told the player in a one-to-one meeting, but it was about what he did so far.

“So let’s build on that and ignore the rest. That is how life is. You cannot think all the time about your mistakes because that makes no sense.

“He is in a fantastic situation where everyone loves him in the club. But he played from [the heart] and not from [the head] and nothing really worked out in the end.”