Gary Neville has stated that Sadio Mane was ‘not very happy’ with Jurgen Klopp’s call to substitute him during Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final penalty shootout win against Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday, as he told Sky Sports Football.
With the game goalless, and ten minutes remaining of normal time, Klopp rang the changes for his side.
Along with Mane, Naby Keita and Jordan Henderson were the ones to make way for Harvey Elliott, James Milner and Diogo Jota.
It wasn’t Mo Salah, or new boy Luis Diaz who made way, but one of Liverpool’s most proven and established players.
Watching on from the commentary box at Wembley, Neville admitted that he was surprised by that call and shared his thoughts on Mane’s reaction.
“Mane’s off,” said Neville. “A little bit (surprised). I thought he would take Diaz off purely because I thought he would leave Mane and Salah on the pitch, not because Diaz deserves to go off. He has been fantastic.
“But he has made tha decison. I mean, he’s not very happy, Mane. He has just snatched his jacket.”
At the end of the day, Diaz was one of Liverpool’s best players on the pitch prior to Mane going off.
So, from that perspective, it would have been harsh to bring the Colombian off because he was looking more dangerous.
In the end, he did end up going off in extra time as this offside-ridden encounter ended up going to penalties.
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