The Liverpool star seems to be an idol of Ousmane Dembele.
Ousmane Dembele might play alongside Lionel Messi but, by his own admission, the Barcelona star will be facing his ‘idol’ when Liverpool visit Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Liverpool travel to the home of the Catalan giants in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final this week and the French winger seems taken with a certain Sadio Mane.
The Senegal international is enjoying yet another outstanding season under Jurgen Klopp and has netted 24 goals in all competitions.
But it looks like Dembele has been a big fan of the 27-year-old since his Southampton days.
On May 16 in 2015, Mane scored the quickest hat-trick in Premier League history in a 6-1 demolition of Aston Villa, scoring in the 13th, 14th and 16th minute.
Dembele – then an 18-year-old unknown at Rennes – acknowledged the Liverpool star’s achievement on Twitter, and then referred to him as his ‘idol’ in a separate tweet 10 days later.
Mane, a similar player to Dembele in the sense that both are jet-heeled wide players, secured a £30 million move to Liverpool a year later in Klopp’s first summer transfer window since joining the Reds.
Dembele has only netted one goal for Barcelona since January, despite being consistently fit and playing, but he might be motivated to break that duck in front of the Anfield sensation who he clearly likes.
The 21-year-old hasn’t been a major hit in Spain since moving from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, but a £345 million buyout clause [Mundo Deportivo] indicates that Barca expect big things from him.
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