Ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League fixture with Atletico Madrid, goalkeeper Jan Oblak has spoken about his respect for Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
The stopper labelled our front three as “world-class” and admits that they’ll be a “pain” for Atleti when the two sides clash tonight, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo.
Oblak, one of the finest in his position, isn’t relishing the opportunity to try to stop the Reds. “We have analysed them but all three are world-class,” he said.
“LFC are a team that everyone on the pitch is an incredible player. They are in amazing form, so I need to worry about them all.
“These three guys will be a pain for all of us. The stats don’t lie, we have to think about not conceding [from set-pieces]. We need to focus and if we are then we can do much better than we have so far.”
The Premier League has been a joke to Liverpool this season – we are quite literally running away with it, but now the attention will turn to defending our European title.
Where better to kick off the knockout stages than the stadium we won our record sixth Champions League at, eh? Atletico will be a tough test, but we’re the best team in the world right now.
Oblak is right to fear Salah, Mane and Firmino – even if two of them are having an off game, any of them can win a game on their own.
Mane providing an example of this when he was brought on in the Premier League over the weekend, with less than half an hour to go, and he scored the winning goal to snatch victory.
Welcome back, @LFC 👋
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🔴⚪ #AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/ze1DNsIXOb— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) February 17, 2020