Luke Ayling has shared to Soccer AM (10/10/20 at 11:40 am) how he felt when he nutmegged Sadio Mane and his own reaction when the Liverpool man got him back.
On the opening day of the Premier League season, Leeds were involved in a pulsating encounter against Liverpool, who came out 4-3 winners on the night.
During the match, Leeds’ right-back nutmegged Mane in the first half, but the speedster got him back by serving him his own medicine later on in the game.
Ayling shared that he signalled to his teammate in the stands when he nutmegged Mane but thought ‘oh no’ when he then got nutmegged.
“It was nice,” Ayling told Soccer AM. “I was a bit nervous to start the season. They came out flying in the first four minutes. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, it’s going to be a long day’.
“Then I chuck the meg and I thought ‘Ohhh, this is a bit of me this’. I remember looking at Tyler Roberts in the stand ‘you see that?’. He was like ‘yehhh’. I was like ‘yehhh, wicked’.
“Then about five minutes later, I am shovelling down the line and he [Mane] goes [nutmegs] me through my legs. I was like ‘Oh, no. What has happened here?’. He got me straight back. Proper as well. It was a nice opening start.”
Whilst Ayling doesn’t have the light touch of a Pablo Hernandez or the ability to dazzle an opponent like Helder Costa, he can still shift that ball in an incredible fashion.
For the Leeds fans, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see their player nutmeg one of the best players in the world because he has that magic in his locker.
But equally, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Mane dish it back because he is one of the best forwards in Europe for a reason.
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