Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has taken Pep Guardiola’s diving accusation pretty well, by joking about it in a recent interview.
The Spaniard said that the Senegalese star “sometimes scores, sometimes dives” after the mid-week Premier League results.
But Mane has now hit back at this claim by joking, and asking if it gets him a penalty, then why not do it, but pours water on Pep by simply stating that he is not a diver.
“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,” he’s quoted as saying by the Guardian.
“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.”
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“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.”
We all know Mane isn’t a diver – the man is always wanting to stay on his feet and fight for the next goal, so it was a bit daft from Pep to say this.
That being said, it wouldn’t be unlike the Spaniard to come out with this comment to simply rustle a few jimmies at Anfield ahead of our big game with them at the weekend.