Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane's on-pitch relationship at Liverpool has been a regular talking point over the years
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane pose with the trophy following their sides victory in a penalty shootout during The FA Cup Final in 2022
Mohamed Salah and former Liverpool star Sadio Mane(Image: Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
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The relationship between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah has once again become a talking point after the former discussed their time together at Liverpool in a recent interview.
Mane joined the Reds from Premier League side Southampton in the summer of 2016 and was followed a year later by Salah, who arrived from Serie A giants Roma. The pair went on to form a formidable attacking unit alongside Roberto Firmino, helping the Reds to both domestic and continental glory over the course of five years.
But it was not always smooth sailing, as an on-pitch spat away at Burnley grabbed headlines at the time and remains a case in point to this day that there was often tension between two of the Reds' most prolific attackers. During an early-season trip to Turf Moor in 2019, Mane was already on the scoresheet but was left infuriated when Salah opted to go for goal himself when an opportunity presented itself, instead of passing to his teammate, who was arguably in a better position.
The Senegal international was substituted shortly after the miss and made his anger known as he made his way to the bench. Tension continued into the tunnel, where Firmino walked between the pair and aimed a smirk at the cameras, which subsequently went viral.
Mane addressed claims of a fractured relationship in a recent interview with Rio Ferdinand and discussed the spat in detail. "I still remember one game when I was really, really angry because he didn't pass me, he should pass to me," Mane said.
"Burnley. You know before this, I watched that game, and I watched your face. Oh, it was amazing. That's why I was really, really angry after the game.
"And the next day he came to me. He wants to talk to me, but he doesn't know when, how to say. He still thinks I'm angry against him because we didn't see each other, we go home. And the next day he came to me. He said, 'Can we talk?'
"I said, 'OK, no problem, we go.' And he said, 'You think I didn't want to pass you?
'But even when I got the ball, I was not thinking or even seeing you to pass. I just got the ball - I want to shoot. But I have nothing against you.'
"I think since this day we become even closer. And sometimes it happen, but we just... as a striker, because Mo, usually when you see the ball, you don't see nobody. So for me, he didn't do it personally. He just want to score, score, score."
But one player who saw the relationship up close over those five years, before Mane eventually departed for Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022, was Firmino. The Brazilian was often referred to as the anchor of Liverpool's attack during that period, and he discussed his role - as well as Mane, Salah and Burnley-gate - in his memoir released in 2023.
Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images
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"James Milner tried to calm him down, but Sadio remained furious, sitting fuming on the bench, gesturing repeatedly," Firmino wrote in Si Senor: My Liverpool Years. "I knew those guys very well, maybe better than anyone.
"I saw first-hand the looks, the grimaces, the body language, the dissatisfaction when one was mad at the other. I could feel it. I was the link between them in our attacking play and the firefighter in those moments.
"For many, that disagreement between Sadio and Mo was the first; for some, the first and last. But I knew it had been brewing since the previous season, 2018–19. My instinct and my duty was to defuse the situation between them. Pour water on the fire - never petrol.
"That day, at Burnley, the lid came off. As we climbed the stairs coming off the field, the mood was heavy; there was none of the joy there should have been at another victory.
"And there I was again, in the middle of the two. Behind Salah and ahead of Mane in the tunnel, a camera looking right at us. When I saw it, I couldn’t help smiling, making a face that said something like: ‘Did you see that?!’
"Their argument wasn’t funny. Potentially, it could have caused problems for us. But that ironic face I made was the face of someone who knew it wouldn’t lead to anything serious.
"They were never best friends; each kept himself to himself and I’m not sure if that had to do with the Egypt–Senegal rivalry in African competitions. But they never severed ties. They always acted with the utmost professionalism."