Firmino lifts the lid on Salah-Mane rivalry with unseen insight

Roberto Firmino has lifted the lid on the tension between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane during their time as Liverpool teammates.

Roberto Firmino has disclosed the tension between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane at Liverpool and how he acted as the peacemaker between the pair.

In an extract from his book ‘Sí Señor: My Liverpool Years’, Firmino opened up on the day Salah and Mane clashed in August 2019. The brawl took place at Turf in a Premier League game between Burnley and Liverpool.

Liverpool won the contest 3-0. The victory was overshadowed though, when Salah didn’t set Mane up for a goal. The Senegalese was not impressed. He left the pitch upset and later fumed at his teammate from the bench.

“I knew those guys very well, maybe better than anyone,” Firmino wrote in an extract from The Guardian.

“It was me out there on the field, right in the middle of them. 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.”

‘They were never best friends’

Salah, Mane, and Firmino formed a deadly attacking trio at Liverpool. They broke countless defenses on their way to Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League success.

Yet, while Salah and Mane were friendly with Firmino, they were never great friends with each other.

“They were never best friends; each kept himself to himself,” Firmino continued.

“It was rare to see the two of them talking and I’m not sure if that had to do with the Egypt-Senegal rivalry in African competitions. I truly don’t know. But they also never stopped talking, never severed ties. They always acted with the utmost professionalism.

“I never took sides. That’s why they love me: I always passed the ball to both; my preference was for the team’s victory. Many focus on what I brought to the attacking trio in tactical terms, but perhaps just as important was the human element: my role as peacemaker, unifier. If I didn’t do that, it would be nothing but storms between the two of them on the field.”

Out of the trio, Salah is the only player who remains at Liverpool. Mane left the club in 2022 to sign for Bayern Munich. He joined Saudi Arabian team Al Nassr last summer. Firmino also went to the Middle East in the previous summer, when he joined Al Ahli.