Liverpool beat Manchester United in the Premier League on Thursday, a night when Jota, Firmino and Mo Salah all managed to find the back of the net as Sadio Mane watched from the bench.
Mane has been really average this season for Liverpool and owing to his poor form, Jurgen Klopp chose to start him on the bench against Manchester United. He was brought on in the 74th minute but by that time, Liverpool were already 3-2 up.
In the end, Liverpool managed to secure all three points thereby keeping their Champions League hopes still alive. But it’s what happened at the end of the match which has left a lot of people a bit confused.
Jurgen Klopp walked onto the pitch for a customary post-match handshake but as he approached Sadio Mane, the winger chose to snub him which was a clear sign of disrespect towards his manager.
This has led many to believe that Sadio Mane was not happy with him being left on the bench and that there has been a breakdown in the relationship between the player and manager.
Jurgen Klopp though chose to wave this situation off as he told the press: “If somebody shows me five million times respect, and one time not, what is then more important?” he asked.
“The world is in a situation where you then make this one time bigger than necessary. That’s unfortunately the case. I hope for you that your boss would not forget, if you don’t show him respect one time, all the other stuff. Even when I speak now about that already, I can see the headlines you are making of it. That’s not the case, I’m completely relaxed about that.
“If you would have seen me as a player, all that I did out of emotion, that was insane! I’m a completely normal guy, and it happened to me anyway.
“Nothing else, we will talk about it and then it will be sorted. That’s all.
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“I can imagine you dreamt all night about it! I cannot make a bigger story of it than it is. Football is an emotional game and everybody expects from us that we control out emotions always. That doesn’t work out always, that’s the case.
“It happened to me as a player, it happened to other players when I was their coach. We had, so far, no real chance to talk about it, but we will and there will be nothing left. Everything will be fine.
“Do we want these things to happen? No. But it’s not the first time in my life and I’m afraid to say it will probably not be the last time. So that’s it.”
Shaking hands or not is not a very deep insight into the pair’s relationship but with only nine Premier League goals under his belt this season, Sadio Mane is obviously not the happiest man in the world right now.
The winger has been really struggling to find his peak form this campaign and his substitute appearance on Thursday was a clear sign that even Jurgen Klopp is starting to lose faith in the Senegalese international.
