Jurgen Klopp maintains that Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have a good working relationship despite reports of conflict between the duo.
The duo met on international duty this past week, with Mane’s Senegal defeating Salah’s Egypt on penalties to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and there have previously been reports that the pair do not get along.
“You play together in a team and both want to score goals. That is normal. We want them to score goals. There are situations where one doesn’t see the other and doesn’t finish the situation off and then we immediately say, ‘what is the reason for that?’
“The reason for that is that in this situation he thinks: ‘I can put it in here’. And then the goalie has the same idea and the ball does not go in. Then it is easy to say afterwards if you had passed the ball then it would have been in.
“I have these moments outside but when I watch the situation back I accept there is no chance. It was really difficult to pass the ball and these kinds of things. There is nothing. That is how it is. We are human beings and from time to time we make wrong decisions, but it is nothing personal.”
“We just want to score a goal and realize a little bit later it was the wrong decision. It is nothing to do with any kind of rivalry with another player on your team, it is just the wrong decision.
“No doubt about it they are not only close, but they are also well educated, they are good boys, they are good humans. Sadio and Mo would consider themselves for sure as friends. They probably have ‘best friends’ somewhere, maybe here or at home, and this situation would be challenging even if it was your best friend.”
Salah and Mane have combined for 32 Premier League goals and 11 assists this season, with their continuing success helping Liverpool cut the distance to Manchester City at the top of the league to just a point.
