Danny Higginbotham raved about the qualities of Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane ahead of the Reds clashing with Manchester City on Sunday.
The Sky Sports pundit referenced that Guardiola had already publicly spoken about the Reds winger ahead of his Man City side facing him, and stated that the experienced manager clearly spoke about the 27-year-old for a reason.
Higginbotham claimed Mane was an unbelievable player and admitted that the Liverpool attacker doesn’t always get the credit he deserves, with his teammates getting more praise than him.
“He is an unbelievable player and at times he doesn’t get the credit he deserves,” said Higginbotham on Match Centre (10:34am, Thursday, November 7th).
“He is starting to get more but other players in the team tend to get a little bit more than him.
“He is an unbelievable player and if Guardiola is talking about him, he is talking about him for a specific reason.”
OPINION
Mane may have previously been an unsung hero as Mohamed Salah stole his spotlight by being an unstoppable goal machine, but the plaudits are certainly rolling in for him this season. After all, he seems to have become the main man for Jurgen Klopp’s side. The 27-year-old is currently joint-top of Liverpool’s scoring charts after racking up eight goals this season alongside Mohamed Salah, but his goal per minute ratio is actually slightly better than his Eqyptian teammate. Mane has scored a goal every 145 minutes of action, as per BBC Sport, while Salah has hit the back of the net every 152 minutes. It’s also worth noting that Mane has attempted six fewer shots than Salah in order to hit the same amount of goals, which implies he is more clinical. It’ll be interesting to see if Mane manages to keep firing throughout the season, potentially out doing his talented teammate, because if he does then no one will be able to say he doesn’t get the praise he deserves as it will just keep coming.
