Liverpool forward Sadio Mane’s vicious drive against FC Porto has been named as the Champions League Goal of the week, our club has confirmed. (Liverpoolfc.com)
The Senegalese attacker netted an eye-catching hat-trick for the Reds in the 5-0 drubbing of FC Porto in the first leg of Champions League round of 16 at Estadio do Dragao on February 14. Mane’s superb goal of the match won the public vote as the best strike across the first leg of the elite competition’s last-16 rounds.
The Liverpool attacker beat off competition from Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, Chelsea’s Willian, Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain and Shakhtar’s Fred to bag the accolade. That wasn’t the only thing; Mane also scooped the Champions League Player of the Week award for his breathtaking performance in Portugal.
After the Senegal international’s hat-trick against Porto, manager Jurgen Klopp was full of praise. He said:
“Sadio had good games. He had a really good game against Manchester City not so long ago. It’s only that it was not his constant level that we are used to seeing.
“You think of Sadio Mane and he is very decisive, controls the ball well, he is a threat all the time for the other team, works hard and all that stuff.”
Mane was once again in the score-sheet on Saturday as Liverpool trounced West Ham 4-1 at Anfield. Emre Can opened the scoring for the Reds in the first-half, before goals from Salah, Firmino and Mane completed the rout.
“When we scored three and I missed the chances, in my head, it was more important that we were winning,” was quoted by Liverpoolfc.com.
“It was a good goal for me. I never doubt in football, you always have to be positive. That’s what I try to do and finally, I scored.
“We started well. It was not easy to score the first goal but we tried and tried again. In the end, we scored. That was the key – the game was a little bit open then.
“We tried again, created many chances and at the end got four goals, so we deserved to win.
“It’s too early to speak about possibilities. But it’s football, everything is possible. We’ll take it game by game and try to win. We don’t know what place we’re going to be in.”
Mane had a mixed start this season but has slowly picked up the tempo and is now back to his best, delivering some cracking performances and winning games for Liverpool. I am sure he’s going to go on like this for many more seasons to come.
