Jordan Henderson has praised the qualities of former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.
Henderson is gearing up to face Mane’s home country of Senegal at the World Cup on Sunday. And although his former Liverpool teammate will miss the game through injury, he’s still obviously in the Reds’ captain’s thoughts.
“I spoke to him [Mane] when I heard he was injured, big blow for them, he’s a huge player. An amazing player,” the 32-year-old told England’s official Twitter page.
“But they’re a good team in their own right and they have qualified for the round of 16.”
Mane misses Liverpool reunion in Qatar
England’s task will no doubt be made slightly easier by the fact that Mane will play no part in Sunday’s tie.
Although they have plenty of talent in the team regardless, there’s no question who their main man is.
For many reasons, it’s such a shame that Mane hasn’t been able to play in Qatar. But from a selfish point of view, it’s disappointing not to see him face his former Liverpool teammates.
The draw pitted him against Virgil van Dijk in the Group Stage. Having played for so many years together at Liverpool and Southampton, it would have been great to watch them face off.
Next up, Mane would have done battle with both Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Had that been the case, perhaps Gareth Southgate would have seen the sense in putting Trent in direct competition with his former club mate.
After so many training sessions, surely Alexander-Arnold would be the man to stop Mane? Then again, this is Southgate, so probably not.
Either way, the World Cup is worse off without him. And perhaps Liverpool are too. We’ll just have to wait for a Liverpool – Bayern matchup in the Champions League to get our fill of Sadio.
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