Liverpool’s Sadio Mané admitted he thought his opening goal in The Reds’ 4-1 win over FC Porto was offside at first.
The home side had started strongly in the hopes of overturning the two-goal deficit from the first leg. However, Liverpool’s number 10 was on hand to slide the ball home from close range to put the tie beyond Porto.
In real time, it looked like Mané was well offside. But in the VAR review, it could be seen that Mané was actually in an onside position when the ball left Mohamed Salah’s foot.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Mané discussed the initial confusion after it was discovered the referee was going to a VAR review to check whether his goal should be allowed. Mané was sure he had been offside himself.
“I was thinking it was offside, to be honest.
“I told the boys to keep going and they said, ‘No, wait.’ I was surprised. It was an important goal but the more important thing was to qualify for the semis and we did it – it’s great.”
Mané also highlighted Liverpool’s excellent team spirit and how well the side had reacted after being very much under the cosh in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
“The beginning was tough. I think the team spirit was great; we never gave up, we tried to push hard as a team. We created many chances and scored many goals, so I think we deserved the win.”
Second-half goals from Salah, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk gave Liverpool a comfortable 4-1 win and a 6-1 victory on aggregate, setting The Reds up for an epic Champions League semi-final encounter with Barcelona.
Liverpool will travel to Camp Nou for the first leg on Wednesday, May 1st. The return leg will be at Anfield on Tuesday, May 7th.
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