Mane: Salah's Failure to Pass Made Me Furious; Next Day's Talk Brought Us Closer
During his time at Liverpool, the attacking partnership between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah dominated the Premier League. However, speculation about whether there were "competitive rifts" between the two never ceased. Recently, in an interview with Camel Live, Mane revealed a little-known episode with Salah in detail for the first time, stating that a misunderstanding caused by a "failure to pass" actually brought their relationship closer.
When talking about Salah, Mane did not hesitate to give high praise, describing his former teammate as a "great player" three times in a row. Regarding the widespread rumors of "malicious competition" between them, Mane frankly said that such competition was not a bad thing. "I am a quiet person, but I get along well with everyone in the team, and Salah is also a very good person," Mane said. It’s just that on the pitch, the instinct of both as strikers often led to minor twists and turns in their cooperation.
Mane recalled a key experience that "upgraded" his relationship with Salah. "I still remember a game where I was really angry because he should have passed the ball to me but didn’t," Mane admitted. After the game, he was still unable to calm down. The two went home separately without communicating, which made Salah aware of his dissatisfaction.
What impressed Mane was that Salah took the initiative to find him during training the next day. "He came over and asked me 'Can we talk?' and I said 'No problem' right away," Mane recounted the conversation at that time. Salah sincerely explained: “Do you think I didn’t want to pass to you? I didn’t score in that game; it was Bobby (Firmino) who scored. But to be honest, when I got the ball, I was only thinking about shooting. I didn’t see you at all, nor did I have time to think about passing. I have no ill feelings towards you. If I had seen you then, with my ability, I would definitely have passed the ball.”
Faced with Salah’s candor, Mane’s anger vanished. "I told him right away 'Don’t worry, it’s all in the past. I was angry just because I thought with your ability, you could have passed to me a few more times'," Mane said. It was this heart-to-heart conversation that completely dispelled the doubts between them. “From that day on, our relationship became closer than before.”
As a striker, Mane fully understood Salah’s choice on the pitch: "When a striker sees the ball, their eyes are often only on the goal, not on anyone else. That’s normal. He wasn’t targeting me; he just wanted to score too much, and his whole mind was on getting the goal." Moreover, Mane took the initiative to say that he was willing to help Salah in his pursuit of the top scorer title. "I told him, 'I know you want to be the top scorer, and I can help you a lot. I don’t have an obsession with being the top scorer, so I will do my best to assist you'."
