Liverpool and Manchester United have a long and storied rivalry, meaning any opportunity to get one over our old foe is taken with both hands and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has just provided us with one.
Speaking with The Athletic, the 50-year-old said: “Roberto Firmino was probably the opposition player who caused me the most problems as a manager”.
It’s certainly not a surprise to hear the Brazilian be spoken of so highly as it was often those who had the opportunity (or misfortune in this case) to closely analyse the role of our forward, who could truly appreciate his contribution to a game.
It was not secret that Jurgen Klopp was a huge admirer of his No.9 too, stating: ‘we will stay friends forever definitely, I will be grateful forever for everything he did for us, for me, and he will go down as one of the Liverpool greats’ (via liverpoolfc.com).
Given the record of Mo Salah against the Old Trafford club as well, this praise from the Norwegian is even more impressive for the now captain of Al-Ahli .
The 31-year-old’s contribution for the Reds will always be remembered by our supporters and the display of love for him at the end of last season was the perfect illustration of that but sometimes compliments from your enemies can mean even more.
Although there may not be too many occasions that we would praise the former Cardiff City boss, this is at least one instance where we can stand behind a comment he has made!
Even though things are looking rosy at Anfield and we have a brilliant new squad of players, what we all wouldn’t give to sign the former Hoffenheim man again and start his story with the club all over again.
Bob Paisley said ‘ That for the truly great players the first two yards is in their heads’.
That makes Bobby Firmino a truly great Red – he saw opportunities and chances way ahead of other players – he has a brilliant football brain. Bobby YNWA