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BIRMINGHAM. — Sadio Mane said he is happy at Liverpool and trying to enjoy every moment of his time at the English Premiership football club, while speculation about the Senegal forward’s future continues to swirl amid links to Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

The 30-year-old, whose contract expires at the end of next season, scored the winner in Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory against Aston Villa to keep the pressure on English Premier League leaders Manchester City. 

Liverpool are level on points with City, who played Wolverhampton Wanderers last night.

Sorting out Mane’s future is a key task for manager Juergen Klopp, who has led them to success in the league, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup. 

Asked by Sky Sports whether he had ever been happier at Liverpool, Mane said: “Yeah, sure, when we won the trophies I think I was more happy. 

“But I think I just try to enjoy every moment and try to score and assist for my team mates. I think it is all about the team or nothing, the boys make it easier for me so I am obviously very happy.” And Klopp has called Mane a “machine” after he scored his 15th English Premier League goal of the season against Aston Villa on Tuesday evening. 

Liverpool came from behind to beat Villa 2-1 in Birmingham thanks to Mane’s second-half header. Former Manchester City midfielder Douglas Luiz opened the scoring in the third minute before Joel Matip equalised for the Reds moments later. 

The result leaves Liverpool second in the English Premier League, level on points with City having played a game more. Pep Guardiola’s were looking at re-establishing their three-point lead over their title rivals with victory against Wolves at Molineux last night.

“He’s a machine, I told him after the game,” said Klopp at full-time. “Massive player, massive player. Physicality, his mix of technique, desire and physicality, in the moment when everyone has a few yards in the legs, you can see it with him. Top goal, just a fantastic, world-class player.” 

Liverpool are aiming to become the first English side in history to win the quadruple this season after winning the EFL Cup and reaching the finals of both the FA Cup and Champions League, meaning they’ll play in every game available to them this season.

On whether they’ve gone a game too far, Klopp said: “If I start feeling sorry for us, we have a problem. No, I don’t think we should use this as an explanation. We caused ourselves problems by qualifying for all these finals. 

“It’s a positive but it’s of course hard, human beings are like this we have this habit to feel sorry for ourselves, but no, this was not the case, we were in the game and they just went for us. “We knew before the game we have to play, but it wasn’t easy, we had to get control of the game. From the moment we did that it was fine, the problem was we conceded the first goal and that wasn’t in our plans. — AFP