Heading into Watford’s visit to Liverpool tonight, the attention, at least among Liverpool attacking players, was on Mohamed Salah who had scored six times in three previous meetings with the Hornets.
However, it was Sadio Mane who grabbed the headlines in the Reds’ 5-0 thrashing of Watford tonight at Anfield as the forward bagged a brace, and he did it with a ton of style points. Mane opened the scoring in the 9′ via a sweet header, but it’s his second goal, scored in the 20′ that has people talking right now.
Yes, his first touch here left a whole lot to be desired, but watch him recover and put the ball in the net via his back heel. It’s early in 2019, but this is definitely a goal of the year nominee:
Sadio Mane scores back heel goal pic.twitter.com/H05katIuM1
— Own Goals (@OwnGoals1) February 27, 2019
Central defender Virgil van Dijk also scored twice, and the Liverpool scoring was rounded out by Divock Origi in the 66′. The very lopsided score line was exactly what Liverpool needed right now.
Their recent form left a lot to be desired, and it certainly has been awhile since we’ve seen this kind of showing from the Reds. Unfortunately for the Merseyside club, they didn’t gain any ground on Manchester City, because the Citizens also won today, downing West Ham United 1-0.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.