A lot is always spoken about Liverpool’s attacking game under Jurgen Klopp and the fearsome front three he has in Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
The trio was in action last night, tormenting FC Porto 5-0 away in the first-leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Mane bagged his first ever hat-trick for the Reds while Firmino and Salah also go on the scoresheet at the Estadio do Dragao.
After the demolition of the Portuguese giants, Klopp praised his team’s overall display before claiming Mane is finally back to his best.
“He gave the right answer,” Klopp was quoted by ESPN.
“That’s good. I said to him after the last game: ‘Finally you’re back’ immediately after when we talked on the pitch.
“Tonight he showed it again what a fantastic player he is. He was always important, he was always fantastic for us, even in his not-that-good moments.
“The first was a little lucky, but the other two — the second one was about being in the right place and he used his fantastic skills on the third one so it’s good, really good. I’m happy about it.”
The trio of Salah-Mane-Firmino has drawn comparisons to the attacking players that Brendan Rodgers had in his team – Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
But former Liverpool defender Neil Warnock says he’d love to swap Firmino for Suarez in this team. However, he believes it would be harsh on the former.
“I’d like to switch Suarez in for Firmino but that’s being very unfair on him,” Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live (h/t Express).
“Suarez is incredible what he’s done. Going to Barcelona and his record is speaking for itself. That would be a tough call but I’d want him to bring Messi as well.”
Truly, it was a rip-roaring display at Porto as our players just sliced past them. Porto had a couple of decent chances and they could have scored but credit to our players for taking their chances and being clinical in front of the goal.
It was great to see Mane finally get back his mojo, while Salah and Firmino as usual oozed class with a goal each.
