Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hailed two-goal Sadio Mane after victory over Tottenham.
Mane’s performance underlined what Liverpool missed during their dismal January run when the Senegal forward was away at the African Nations Cup.
Klopp said: “He was fantastic and could have scored a third. It is no problem for me to talk about such a wonderful performance from Sadio but actually, Roberto Firmino, I don’t think I saw a lot of better games from a striker without scoring.
“I saw a lot of good individual performances tonight and that is important, otherwise you can’t win against a team like Tottenham.
“Of course we missed Sadio but each team in the world would have missed him. It is not that we played 20 games really bad, we had a few.
“Now we are back in this race and we have to use this situation. We now have 14-15 days, so two or three days rest for the boys and then a pre-season. We have to use the time.”
