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LIVERPOOL. — Sadio Mane has confidently predicted that Liverpool are going to beat Manchester United in tonight’s crunch English Premiership soccer match at Anfield. Liverpool face Jose Mourinho’s United side tonight at 9pm with the potential of going top of the English Premier League with a big win. Mané is allowing the questions to bounce off him rather like the defenders who find it impossible to shrug him off the ball. Suddenly, prompted by reminders of Liverpool’s recent victories over Arsenal and Chelsea, there is a turn of pace and shot fired with perfect execution. “We are going to beat Manchester United,” he says.

So mild-mannered and deliberate has he been with his words in the previous 15 minutes – and so rare is it to hear such a pre-match declaration from any player – clarification is sought. “You really think that?”

“Of course. We all believe it. We are going to make it,” he insists. Both Arsenal and Chelsea have fallen to Jurgen Klopp’s side this season while Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham were held to a point at White Hart Lane.

There is a level of optimism at Liverpool this season in Klopp’s first full season in charge of the Merseyside club. Very rare does a Premier League footballer echo that confidence in public but Mane was in defiant mood ahead of the crunch match.

“We are going to beat Manchester United,” he told the Telegraph.

“Of course. We all believe it. We are going to make it.

“Maybe this will be the biggest game I have played in,” says Mané. “My games for Senegal will have been the biggest so far. “For my club, I think my biggest was my debut for Southampton against Arsenal. We won and I scored. I was under big pressure so for me that was amazing. “Now this will be one of the most important. Everyone would like to score in a game like this.”

It is a measure of the confidence at Melwood that even the visit of Jose Mourinho’s side will not compromise such boldness. Inevitably, it stems from manager Jürgen Klopp, who has been walking around the training ground for the past 48 hours stoking fires and telling his players to pump out their chests, staring incredulously at anyone who dares suggest this is “just another game”.

“It’s normal the fans and people will think this is a particular type of game. We know it’s one of the big games of the season. It might be like El Clásico but, really, when the games starts and you get on to the pitch, then you do have to treat it more like a normal game.”

For all the millions invested to rebuild Manchester United, there must be concerns at Old Trafford that Mané is demonstrating why he is the one that got away.

He was a prime target for Louis Van Gaal in the summer of 2015, and it was presumed to be the Saints’ unwillingness to negotiate that prevented the deal. The 24-year-old sees it differently, insisting it was his decision to stay when United bid £25 million. He believed his patience would be rewarded.

“In honesty, there were some clubs interested at that time but I never made any choices then,” he says. “I did not say I thought of any club and I wanted to play there. That kind of interest gave me a lot confidence on the pitch and made me believe in myself, but I knew this was because of my hard work and I was in a good way.

“Ronald Koeman was not happy with all the rumours because he wanted me to stay, but it was not too complicated because for me, also, it was not time to go. When I spoke to him I told him, ‘No problem, I will stay’. It was my decision. I wanted to stay at Southampton.

“I was patient because I remember after the first year (in England) I knew it was better to focus on Southampton. In my head I thought I would be there a couple more years and prove something. I was convinced I still had to prove something, improve more and learn more before I moved to a bigger club. But then I knew when the right time was for me. The extra year helped me get better, and it is important for every player to go step by step.

“It was only when Liverpool came in (last summer) that I never had a second thought and knew I wanted to join. It was different because then was the right moment for me. I finally came to Liverpool and I was happy with that, and now I’m happy I am playing against Manchester United.” — The Telegraph.