Jurgen Klopp has hailed Liverpool’s twin “forces of nature” Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane after their Afcon heroics and explained that they remain in top condition as they don’t drink alcohol.
The pair returned to the Reds’ starting line-up for the win at Burnley on Sunday, despite their exploits in Cameroon, where they both played seven gruelling matches before Mane’s Senegal beat Salah’s Egypt on penalties in the final.
Both are likely to play for Liverpool in their Champions League last-16 first leg tie away at Inter on Wednesday, and Klopp says one of the key factors which has enabled the duo to return so fresh and so quickly is the fact that neither drink alcohol.
What did Klopp say?
Speaking at a press conference at Kirkby on Tuesday, Klopp told reporters: “A week is now no problem. Both boys don’t drink alcohol, so that major problem you have if you celebrate a big thing, that kills or extends the recovery time, isn’t there.
"They don’t drink, so they were fit the day after the game. Both are a force of nature, and hopefully they stay like that forever! For Mo it was a few days [off after Afcon], Sadio a week because there were celebrations in between which was fine, but no, I am not surprised.”
Why don't Salah and Mane drink alcohol?
Both Salah and Mane - as well as team-mate Naby Keita - are Muslim, which means they abstain from drinking alcohol at all times as part of their faith.
When Liverpool became Premier League champions in 2020, it was revealed that the celebratory champagne they sprayed during the trophy presentation at Anfield was non-alcoholic, out of respect for their faith.
Captain Jordan Henderson revealed: “The champagne was non-alcoholic with the trophy lift because of Mo and Sadio.
“Within the dressing rooms there's none of that [intolerance] so why isn't that the case in the outside world?”
What else did Klopp have to say?
Klopp was fulsome in his praise for Inter, despite the Nerazzurri having surrendered top spot in Serie A recently thanks to a defeat to city rivals AC Milan and last weekend’s draw at Napoli.
He said: “Inter is a top-class team, with top-class players and a top-class manager. With all respect to other teams, they are probably the best team this year again in Italy. Can’t see it in the table at the moment but they look really rock solid, they have creativity on the pitch, they are very well organised, very well drilled, and the individual quality is big.
“That is the Champions League, a top-class team and we need to show a top-class performance even to have a chance. But why shouldn’t we try?”
He added: “It is two big clubs, two incredibly successful clubs, but that is what Champions League should be. There are a lot of thoughts about reforms or changes to the Champions League but when you have tonight City against Sporting and Real Madrid against PSG, and tomorrow us against Inter, that is massive. That’s proper European royalty football and we are really looking forward to it.”
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