Jürgen Klopp admitted Sadio Mané was substituted at half-time of the win over Atletico Madrid because he feared the Spaniards’ playacting would see the striker red-carded.
Mané had received an early booking, but was then on the receiving end of the cynical foul from visiting defender Felipe which earned the Brazilian centre back a red card from referee Danny Makkelie after 36 minutes with Liverpool leading 2-0.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson urged Mané to keep his cool as Diego Simeone’s side targeted the Senegal forward, but Klopp took the decision to replace him at the interval anyway.
“I think everyone in the stadium expected it,” said the Liverpool manager, who also substituted Mané after 45-minutes due to similar fears when the teams met in the first leg of a last 16 clash in 2020.
“I thought it was the right thing to do and I hated it more than you can imagine. I was not worried that Sadio cannot handle his emotions — he was calm.
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“But the thing is the ball comes in the air for a headed challenge and the (Atletico) player goes down. We all saw what the Madrid players did, rolling around to try to equal the number of players again. I didn’t like it but [taking Mané off] was the right thing to do.”
Roberto Firmino replaced Mané and the sight of the Brazil striker later limping off with a hamstring injury was the only blemish on the night for Liverpool, who won Group B with two games to spare.
It is the first time since 2006-07 that the club has advanced to the knockout stage of the competition so early and Klopp hailed his players for a fourth successive win.
“If Firmino hadn’t gone off with a hamstring injury it would have been much better,” said Klopp. “Pretty much from all our points of view it was a good performance. I wouldn’t have expected that [qualifying after four games] when I saw the draw. No one would have expected that so doing it was pretty special.
“Two games to go and we will try everything to win those too. You earn a lot of money to win Champions League games! ”
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The dismissal of Felipe came after Atletico were reduced to ten men two weeks ago when Antoine Griezmann was sent off in their 3-2 defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano. While visiting coach Diego Simeone and Jan Oblak were unhappy with the officials’ performance at Anfield, Klopp said: “I didn’t see a red card, I saw a yellow card but then I saw it back and his foot was high and it hit his achilles. So by the letter of the law a red card.
“Do I want the other team to go one man down? No. I don’t think it changed too much but, of course, it is a different game.”
Mané and Diogo Jota’s goals came via assists from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who believes the control Liverpool displayed in protecting their 2-0 lead was a step forward after recent lapses.
“It was an important one for us,” said the right back. “Every game is important but we stuck to our game plan. We got those early goals. We have learnt our lesson from Madrid when we were 2-0 up.
“We were able to see it through and dominate the game.
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“We know what type of team they are. They like to suck you into their way of playing but we kept the ball, kept it moving quickly and scored two very good goals.”
