Liverpool forward, Sadio Mane has disclosed that he urged fellow teammate, Roberto Firmino to declare himself fit for their UEFA Champions League opener against Paris Saint-Germain, PSG, on Tuesday at Anfield.
Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp kept Firmino on the bench in his side’s 3-2 win over PSG but brought him on with about 20 minutes to go, and the 26-year-old scored the added-time winner to extend the Red’s 100 per cent record to six matches.
Firmino sustained an abrasion to the cornea in his left eye during their Premier League 2-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur after a clash with Jan Vertonghen last weekend.
Mane, however, said that he told Firmino that he didn’t “need his eye to play” against PSG.
Even Klopp admitted he thought the Brazilian had “no chance” of playing when he saw him on Monday, but Mane was not prepared to give up on his teammate.
“I think Bobby [Firmino] doesn’t need his eye to play so I told him,” Mane was quoted by A Different League as saying at post-match.
“I sent him a message on Monday saying, ‘Hey Bobby, come on, we need you’.
“You’ve all seen the ‘no look’ goals so I think he doesn’t need his eye to play. I texted him saying, ‘You don’t need your eye’.”
Mane added: “It’s a great start. It is too early to speak about anything, but it is very important for us to focus more because we are Liverpool, we are a stronger team, and we will try to do our best every game”.
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