Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has attempted to clear up once and for all what happened during his brief spat with Mohamed Salah at Burnley earlier this season.
The Senegalese international reacted angrily to be substituted during the 3-0 win at Turf Moor, but it later emerged that Mane was not happy with Salah - as he'd failed to square the ball to him in the penalty area moments before he was replaced.
Mane has now attempted to put the spat to bed, not for the first time, by claiming the two actually have a good relationship, and that the falling out was just heat of the moment stuff from two individuals who want to win big.
“It was a misunderstanding, I just wanted to help the team," Mane told French publication Canal+, as quoted by Sport Witness.
"You look at teams like 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 continued by sharing what Salah said to him in the aftermath of the incident, going on to reveal that the falling out became a figure of fun for his Liverpool teammates - and wind-up merchant Georginio Wijnaldum in particular.
He added: “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”.
“Everyone was taking the p**s out of us. 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."
Indeed, it does appear that the pair have put the incident behind them. Mane has five goals this season, Salah has four and Liverpool are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League after just eight games.
Source : 90min