Sadio Mane gave Liverpool fans something to cheer about on Wednesday as he returned to Champions League action with a treble.
The Reds hammered FC Porto 5-0 in their Round of 16 stage first leg visit to the Estádio do Dragão.
Mane registered his hat-trick in the 25th, 53rd and 85th minutes to help Liverpool maul the Portuguese side who also had Ghana’s Majeed Waris making his Champions League debut in the second half. Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored in between the Senegalese forward’s goals.
RESULTS
Two for @Cristiano; a hat-trick for Sadio Mane and NINE goals overall!Hope you enjoyed it! #UCL pic.twitter.com/kyhxKGENsF
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 14, 2018
“Honestly, it was not an easy game even if we scored five. We played great football from the beginning to the end,” said Mane.
“We created so many chances and scored five, so it was deserved,” he added.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp praised his team’s effort, saying it was a great display.
“It was very professional, very mature in the right moments, very aggressive, good defending, good counter-attacking, keeping the ball, moving them around. In this game it was possible, usually it’s not that easy.”
Mane’s role in midfield also came up for mentioning from Klopp.
“That’s what you need in a game like this, a competition like this,” he said.
“I saw a lot of fantastic performances tonight, a result like this is only possible if they are all spot on. I think (Andy) Robertson played an outstanding game, finally he found his crosses, I thought they were in Scotland or somewhere which was good to see.
“Of course Sadio is man of the match but Roberto Firmino’s work rate was outstanding again.”
Porto coach Sergio Conceicao confirmed Mane’s heroic display when he suggested that his team was in control until the Senegalese broke through with just 20 minutes to go for the first half.
“Liverpool have some very fast players. After their second goal, they started to enjoy the game we let our heads drop,” he said.
