Jurgen Klopp has admitted there might be a small rivalry between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations final.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Two or three years ago they were together and got the Golden Boot of the league. That was a really nice moment. Apart from that, do they have a competition? I know that Robbo and Trent, they have a competition for assists because if it would be for goals, Robbo would probably lose before the season starts. That’s a completely normal and natural thing. Diogo probably wants to score goals and, if possible, more than others. Bobby as well and people don’t think that about him. There’s no real competition but a little bit of competition is there for sure.”
Despite the friendly relationship between Salah and Mane, Klopp is aware that the two will be feeling rather contrasting emotions upon their return to the AXA Training Centre after the Africa Cup of Nations final. And with such a scenario being a new one to the German, he admits it will be a new test for his man-management skills as Liverpool celebrate the success of one of the duo and commiserate with the other.
Jurgen Klopp said: “I’m not the type of guy who thinks everything will be a problem. Both players had a successful tournament and we will see the same situation next year, in late-November and early-December, exactly the same when everybody is coming back from the World Cup. There is one winner, maybe two or three winners and all the rest lost. That is the world we created for these boys. Thank you for asking, usually no-one asks about how they will deal with it. I can deal with it, that’s no problem. I will help them with all I have. When they come back we have to talk and we will see if they need anything. If they need a day off or two days off, whatever these kind of things. They are our boys and we will do everything to help them through all the different situations. That’s how it always was. It’ll be exactly the same with the World Cup. I think the World Cup ends and we go into Boxing Day or something like that. Very interesting, very interesting. World Cup finishes, you win the World Cup then come back and play 26th and play the 28th and all these kind of things. Let’s talk then about it. Then we have the experience of the Africa Cup of Nations and can tell you, “It was easy,” or, “It was not so easy”. So far we don’t have this experience or didn’t have this experience too often.”
Liverpool host Cardiff City on Sunday in what is currently the Reds’ last scheduled match without Salah and Mane, with the pair set to return for the Premier League meeting with Leicester City on Thursday. Klopp is in no doubt that both players will want to face the Foxes, but admitted he will have to talk to both of them before deciding if it is right to throw them straight back into Premier League action.
Jurgen Klopp added: “These two boys are real warriors. They are constantly ready. They are both not worried about holiday, about days off and stuff like this. I never heard them ask anything about having time off. I never did. Especially with these two boys it is really pretty simple. I know they want to play immediately but together with them we have to find out how much sense it makes. We will see. I can imagine both will want to play against Leicester, both will want to be involved, want to score goals and want to win football games for Liverpool. That’s how it is. We have a few days until we have to make that decision. I didn’t think too much about it because the boys will come back and then we’ll talk.”
