“It means the world to him, it means the world to his people.”
Jurgen Klopp has been speaking about AFCON stars Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s return to club football ahead of the game against Leicester City on Thursday.
Salah and Mane went head to head at the African Cup of Nations final on Sunday as Senegal beat Egypt on penalties. Mane scored the winning penalty to take home the trophy.
Jurgen Klopp offers update on Salah and Mane.
With the tournament over, both players’ focus will return to Liverpool and aim to finish the season on a high.
The Reds are in action against Leicester on Thursday at Anfield. Salah is in contention to play the game, but Mane will not be available to face the Foxes.
Klopp ruled Mane out of the game on Thursday. “Sadio flies out if it’s possible on Wednesday night,” the Liverpool manager told reporters.
🗣 "Yesterday everybody could see he still had the final in his mind."
Jurgen Klopp on the emotions of Mo Salah returning to Liverpool after losing the AFCON final pic.twitter.com/McLBfSByQ1
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 9, 2022
“So, he will arrive here on Thursday but he is, of course, then not involved in the Leicester game.”
Klopp mentioned it entered their mind to call Mane back but felt it was only fair to let him celebrate with his countrymen.
“It means the world to him, it means the world to his people, it means the world to Senegal and we respect that a lot and we would never consider to have called back him from there or whatever – let them do what they do in the moment because they deserve it.”
Mane and Salah have played seven games in four weeks including games that went 120 minutes in length.
“They’ve had an incredibly intense time, so when he is back we will talk to him and we will see how we can use him,” Klopp said about Salah.
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