Sadio Mane to Guardiola: I will dive again
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane will not change his style of play despite Pep Guardiola’s “diving” accusation.
The Manchester City boss first made the claim last weekend, when the Senegal international was booked after going down in the penalty area following a challenge by Aston Villa’s Frederic Guilbert.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp jumped to his defence and Guardiola subsequently rowed back on the comments, saying they were part of a longer speech in which he praised the forward and it was “far away from my intention to say Sadio is this type of player because I admire him a lot”.
Mane, unaware of the subsequent climbdown at the time having played in the 2-1 Champions League victory over Genk, was unmoved by Guardiola’s initial criticism as he believes if there is contact he has a right to go down.
And he offered a sarcastic response to the City boss ahead of the two sides meeting at Anfield on Sunday, saying: “If it could be a penalty for sure I will ‘dive’ again.
“If the ‘dive’ will give me a penalty then I will do it! Why not? But what Jurgen said is correct. I do not dive.
“There was contact [at Villa] for sure. Maybe it was not a penalty and he didn’t give it, and he gave me a yellow card. To be honest I don’t have any problem about it.
“It’s what I want to keep doing. If I get a penalty, yeah it’s a penalty. If no penalty, no penalty, but [it] will never change the way I’m playing or the way I’m doing my things.
“The only thing I can say I will be for sure ready for the team, to give everything possible, and to help my team.
“I think it’s a bit clever from him to get the attention of the referee but I will just play my football like I’m always doing. I don’t pay attention to what he’s saying because it’s part of football.
“No it doesn’t make anything [motivation-wise] for me. Even though I saw him commenting about it, what he said, for me, I think it’s positive.”
At the time Guardiola’s criticism was seen as the start of mind games leading up to Sunday’s Anfield encounter.
The defending Premier League champions trail Klopp’s side by six points and defeat at the weekend would put them under even more scrutiny.
It is undoubtedly the game of the season so far and City are the only team to beat Liverpool in their last 50 league matches.
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