Mo and Sadio, more brothers than rivals

LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp couldn’t have asked for a better Afcon.

His two star players – Mo Salah and Sadio Mané – went toe-to-toe in the final and their rivalry was pretty much the story of the tournament.

We all know that Mané and Senegal prevailed in the penalty shootout.

But there’s more … The two African aces will ‘pak mekaar aan’ once more for a place at the World Cup in next month’s Caf play-offs.

While many people think this may have a detrimental effect on the Reds’ attack, I can only imagine that this will sharpen them up even more.

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Before diving into Salah vs Mane or Salah x Mane – whichever way you see it – I just want to clear up a misconception.

I watched this whole Klopp vs Afcon saga unfold for a while now. And I’ve rolled my eyes every time I hear Klopp criticised for calling Afcon “a small tournament”.

I saw that press conference. I watch most Premier League pressers live and Klopp was not saying that.

Klopp was asked by an English journalist about whether he was relieved to see the back of the European World Cup qualifiers in November and whether he was happy that he was going to have his full squad available for the rest of the season, barring injuries and Covid.

Being the considerate and thoughtful man that he is, he had to remind the Englishman that it’s not only about Europe.

His response was: “I hear about the qualifiers all the time, but in January there is a little tournament in Africa. And Asia are playing games too, if I’m right. And South America as well.”

All he was doing was telling the English media that they can’t just think about European qualifiers when he has a squad of stars from all over the world.

So no. Klopp was not saying that Afcon is a small tournament. He was using sarcasm in response to the English media belittling Afcon by hardly acknowledging its existence.

The story was blown out of proportion later when an African-based journalist took Klopp to task about the comment and reports that Liverpool were part of the European Clubs Assocation’s push to have Afcon rescheduled.

Either way. I hope that puts that story to bed and we can now get back to Salah and Mané.

Liverpool fans and pundits like to play up the competition between the pair and love to point out that they lack any real chemistry.

They always point out how Mané reacted when Salah went for goal rather than pass to the open Senegalese in a 3-0 win at Burnley on August 31 2019.

It happens in every team.

The fact that they try to outscore one another is probably totally fine with Klopp – they are trying to win football matches.

And it’s working for them this season too. With 16 Premier League goals for Salah and Mané’s eight, the Reds boss will be confident that his star strikers can help them maintain the pressure on Manchester City in the race for the title.

Add Roberto Firmino, new boy Luis Diaz and in-form Diogo Jota, they can also make their stemme dik in the Champions League –which resumes with a trip to Inter Milan on Wednesday.

With those three adding to the competition for places – and goalscoring opportunities – you can expect Mané and Salah to try even harder after they get back up to speed after Afcon.

You see, the sharper they are, the better for Liverpool.

As an Arsenal fan, I’m green with envy of that Reds attack, with the club chasing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang away and the team scoring just once all January long.

Klopp’s options are the envy of Europe, to be fair, though. No other team can boast that attack. Only Bayern Munich (22), Ajax (20) and City (18) scored more than Liverpool’s 17 in the Champions League group stages.

And that’s down to Liverpool’s ability to create goalscoring chances at will.

We often talk about fullbacks Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold being the Reds’ main playmakers.

But that’s misleading.

In an interesting analysis by US football magazine The Athletic this week, they highlighted the areas of the pitch where Prem sides have more touches than their opponents.

Liverpool’s “control” map is virtually the entire pitch, except for the areas close to their own corner flags and the opposition’s penalty area.

The most notable other area where the Reds lack control is just around the opposition’s ‘D’ again.

This is where many people imagine where a Thiago Alcantara or Firmino is supposed to be doing their magic.

It’s also where Mané and Salah love to operate. It’s a zone where you have to pull the trigger.

Those two aren’t going to defer to anyone when the chance opens up.

And it’s just gonna make for another classic showdown for a place at a little tournament in Qatar at the end of the year.