SADIO MANE HAS revealed that his public show of frustration towards Mohamed Salah led to Liverpool team-mates “taking the piss” out of the pair.
Two members of the Reds’ fearsome attacking unit became embroiled in a spat, which club colleagues found hilarious, during a Premier League trip to Burnley.
Jurgen Klopp’s side ran out 3-0 winners at Turf Moor, but Mane dominated the headlines for his reaction to being substituted.
The Senegalese made it clear when heading to the bench that he was less than impressed with the selfish streak displayed by Egyptian frontman Salah.
Those in the Liverpool camp were quick to play the incident down, while those at the centre of the squabble have since seen the funny side, with Mane admitting that his Anfield colleagues have not allowed him to live the incident down.
He told Canal+Sport: “Everyone was taking the piss out of us.
“[Georginio] Wijnaldum, who likes to tease people, waited until everyone was there, came up to me and asked out loud, ‘Mo Salah, why did Mane want to hit you?’ and the whole team started laughing.”
Mane insists the matter has now blown over, with there no division inside the Liverpool camp.
He added: “It was a misunderstanding.
I just wanted to help the team. You look at teams like [Manchester] City, they sometimes score five or six.
“If there’s a possibility to kill off the game as quickly as possible all the while trying to score many goals, I think that’s important, and so I was a bit frustrated.
“We just talked, and everything was like before.
“We talked between ourselves, and then the manager called me into his office and we spoke.
“I told him it was already sorted and he was pleasantly surprised.”
Mane went on to reveal what was discussed when he confronted Salah, saying: “He told me, ‘But Sadio, why are you angry?’ I told him, ‘You needed to give me the ball, Mo’, to which he replied, ‘I didn’t see you. You know I’ve got nothing against you’.
“I knew that, but his reaction was a bit strange to me.
We’re always side by side. He’s 10 and I’m 11 . We text each other sometimes. We even talk on the phone, but we don’t have a problem.”
Table-topping Liverpool will be hoping to see Mane and Salah on the best of terms when they return to Premier League action on Sunday with a trip to arch-rivals Manchester United.
Ryan Bailey steps into the presenter’s chair where he’s joined by Murray Kinsella and Eoin Toolan on the line from Japan to tee up one of the biggest, if not the biggest week in Irish rugby: a World Cup quarter-final against back-to-back champions New Zealand.
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