Mark Lawrenson hailed the transformation of Liverpool’s forward trio following Wednesday’s Champions League triumph against Bayern Munich.
The Merseyside giants defeated the German champions 3-1 at the Allianz Arena with a performance that the Anfield legend claimed “made Bayern look ordinary.
Speaking to BBC Sport in the aftermath, as quoted by the network’s live football blog (Wednesday, 9.58pm), Lawrenson namechecked Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino for spearheading the passage to the quarter-finals.
“Jurgen Klopp has got this one absolutely right. Liverpool made Bayern look ordinary and it is not the same Bayern as two or three years ago, but Liverpool could not have played this any better,” Lawrenson said.
“Virgil van Dijk has to win Footballer of the Year by a street. Liverpool’s front three were always a threat and in big games recently they had looked average but today as a front three they were outstanding.”
OPINION
Correct, from Lawrenson. Well, two-thirds correct. Firmino and Salah have indeed been below par in recent times, despite the Brazilian’s double in last Sunday’s triumph over Burnley. But Mane has been anything but. The Senegalese has scored in six consecutive Anfield league matches, and is playing the best football of his career. He is becoming unplayable for even the very top defences. Unpredictable, elusive and brilliant in one-on-ones with his pace, mobility and capacity to change direction in a milli-second, Mane destroyed Bayern. The touch, turn and finish for his opener was so good Klopp beamed afterwards that he looks forward to watching a 1,000 replays of it. His second provided further evidence of his underrated heading ability, as well as increasing clinical touch. Sometimes, Mane has needed four or five chances to score. Now, he is as ruthless as Sergio Aguero or Harry Kane, with blistering speed and wizardry sorcery thrown in as gorgeous added extras.